DEPA to break with Gazprom?
Negotiations between DEPA Commercial and Gazprom are at a pivotal point, which may lead to arbitration or even a complete stop in Russian gas imports. Their outcome will also determine the future of the Greek gas company.
DEPA has a contract with Gazprom that expires in 2026 for natural gas quantities of 2 billion cubic meters per year, or 22 terawatt-hours, with a take-or-pay clause for a minimum amount of absorption of 17 TWh per year. That is, DEPA will pay for these quantities, whether it receives them or not.
The object of the multi-month negotiations are the take-or-pay clauses – the cost of which run to approximately 400 million euros for DEPA in total for 2021-2022 – but also the price of natural gas supply, which after the last revision of the contract on 2021 is linked 80% to the price of gas in the Dutch TTF and 20% to the price of oil.
The Greek side does not recognize the activation of the clause and has made it clear to the Russians it is not willing to pay a single euro of the €400 million they demand. It claims that the non-absorption of the minimum contractual quantities of gas is due to Gazprom’s breach of a key term of the contract.
