DEPA says it will ensure gas provision
State-controlled natural gas supplier Public Gas Corporation (DEPA) said the company is ensuring the smooth provision of gas to households, businesses and industry even as imported supplies are being reduced. Severe winter weather conditions across Europe and a sudden decrease, with the prospect of a possible halt, in imports from Turkey?s Botas AS led to a fall in gas supplies to Greece as demand in the country hit daily record highs, Athens-based DEPA said in an e-mailed statement late on Thursday.
Recent demand in Greece peaked to the equivalent of between 230,000 and 250,000 megawatt-hours a day, from a high of 180,000 in the same period last year, according to the statement.
Turkey?s natural gas supply from Iran and Azerbaijan fell to about a seventh of its daily 40 million cubic meters due to breakdowns in both countries, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz had said on February 7.
DEPA said it recently secured six special deliveries of liquefied natural gas and a seventh shipment is due to arrive on Saturday, even as such purchases are increasingly scarce across Europe given higher demand.
DEPA will continue to work to ensure supplies via its long-term contracts for 1.6 billion cubic meters of Russian gas a year from OAO Gazprom, for 750 million cubic meters annually of Azeri gas via Botas and for 850 million cubic meters of LNG a year from Algeria?s Groupe Sonatrach, according to the statement. [Bloomberg]
