Gov’t awaits US alternative gas proposal
The government is keen to hear US proposals regarding Greece’s role in Washington’s energy strategy, especially the Americans’ counterproposal to the Russian-sponsored Turkish Stream pipeline and its extension to Greece, when Amos Hochstein, the State Department’s Coordinator on International Energy Affairs, visits Athens on Friday.
During Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias’s recent visit to the United States he had mentioned a counterproposal and a prospective visit by Hochstein to Athens for that purpose.
Now both government sources and energy analysts are being reserved as to what the US proposal might include, given that the producer countries of natural gas are already known, as are the gas carriage options. Therefore, any proposal would be limited and possibly not beneficial.
For instance, one possibility might be the transmission of gas from Turkmenistan to Iran to be shipped by sea to Europe. That could form part of Washington’s policy for diversifying Europe’s energy sources to avoid dependence on Russian gas, but it is not an easy project and there is no infrastructure for it.
