Greek government unveils details of DESFA’s accession to TAP

Greek gas grid DESFA, 66%-owned by a consortium led by Italy’s Snam, is interested in becoming the fifth shareholder in the Alexandroupolis LNG Terminal in the north of the country.

 Greek Environment and Energy Minister Kostis Hatzidakis said at the Southeast Energy Forum, Report says.

Addressing the Southeast Energy Forum 2020 in Thessaloniki, Hatzidakis said that negotiations over a new shareholders’ agreement were expected to begin in the next few days. He added that the project -which has attracted interest for capacity pre-reservation by 12 traders in 15 years- will be fully operational by the end of 2022 or early 2023.

Snam, which has a 20% stake in TAP, operates LNG plants in Italy and, through DESFA, is currently bidding to run an LNG import plant in Kuwait.

Notably, a source told Reuters that DESFA was considering taking a 20% stake in developing the Alexandroupolis LNG project.

The floating terminal, dubbed a project of “common interest” by the European Commission, will have a capacity of around 6 billion cubic meters of gas per year and will cost about 380 million euros ($448 million).

In Greek waters close to the Turkish border, it will be able to feed gas into other pipeline systems planned in the area, including the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).