By the beginning of 2020 it is forecast that Greek-Bulgarian Interconnecting natural gas pipeline (IGB) will be ready, according to the Chief Executive of the Greek Public Gas Company (DEPA), Thodoris Kitsakos, who was speaking at a conference being held in Athens last week, which had as it’s theme, the challenges and investment opportunities in the energy sector, in Greece.
Other projects with international cooperations which DEPA has on it’s agenda, are the southern corridor, which will bring gas from Russia, the Caspian Sea, Iran, or Irak, towards Europe, following European law to the letter. Mr. Kitsakos explained that the East Med pipeline is designed to bring gas to the area of the Eastern Mediterranean, via Crete and mainland Greece, to Italy.
He consider the project to be technically possible, financially viable and commercially competitive and emphasised that Greece can take on the role of the “bridge” for the movement of natural gas towards Europe, which is anticipated to need an additional 100 billion cubic metres of gas by 2030.
In terms of the Greek market, DEPA aims to increase to increase the number of consumers changing over to natural gas, by supplying remote areas with liquefied or compressed gas, and supplying Crete and the other bigger islands in accordance with the memorandum which was signed National Electricity Company and sixteen cities, by 2021.
