In Brief
Enelco signs contract to build gas-fired station Enel SpA’s Enelco division, the Greek unit of Italy’s largest utility, signed a contract to build a gas-fired power station in Greece, the first of three planned by grid operator DESMIE. Enelco, whose shareholders also include Russia’s OAO Gazprom and Greece’s Copelouzos Group, will build and operate a 447-megawatt plant, DESMIE said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. The facility is expected to begin commercial operations in 27 months. The power station will sell electricity to the wholesale market at partly guaranteed prices as Greece opens up its energy industry to boost competition and reduce its dependence on oil. Enelco, 75 percent-owned by Enel, won the contract in February. Greek power demand has grown by 50 percent in the past decade, US Energy Department data show. Greece needs to increase capacity by a further 50 percent, or by 6,000 MW, to guarantee supply through 2015, according to the energy regulatory authority. (Bloomberg) Bulgaria’s c/a gap gets wider on import growth SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgaria’s current account deficit widened to 9.3 percent of annual GDP in January-May, from 8.9 percent in the year ago period as import growth continued, central bank data showed yesterday. The external deficit for the first five months of the year reached 3.095 billion euros, up from -2.586 billion a year ago, the data showed. In May alone, the gap was -627 million, up from -461 million in the same month a year ago. The deficit, which hit 21.6 percent of GDP at the end of 2007, is the European Union newcomer’s biggest economic headache, increasing its vulnerability to external shocks at a time of global financial problems. Oil supplies Oil firm Tatneft, one of the two key suppliers of Russian crude to the Czech Republic, said yesterday it had reduced deliveries because it had rerouted volumes to Turkey due to better prices. «We were simply lacking volumes to meet our supply plan for Tupras,» Nurislam Subayev, adviser to Tatneft’s deputy general director, told Reuters. Tupras is Turkey’s biggest refiner and a large importer of crude from Tatneft. «(Tupras) are our longtime partners and the margins are better there,» he said. He declined to specify the scale of the cut and said that Tatneft would soon return to normal supply volumes to the Czech Republic via the Druzhba pipeline. (Reuters) Instability concerns Political instability could make it harder to finance Turkey’s hefty current account deficit, Economy Minister Mehmet Simsek said yesterday. The deficit, expected to reach around $50 billion this year, is currently financed by foreign direct investment, which despite the size of the gap makes it sustainable for years to come, he said. «Political instability, a disruption in the European Union process, could harm this,» Simsek said. Turkey’s bid for EU entry risks being complicated by political tensions between the secularist establishment, including army generals and judges, and the Islamist-rooted AK Party government, which faces possible court closure for anti-secular activities. (Reuters)
