Natural gas

The market test for the EastMed pipeline - the project to transport natural gas from East Mediterranean gas fields to Italy and Central Europe through Greece - is expected to take place by the end of 2023, officials of owner IGI Poseidon told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency.

IGI Poseidon belongs in equal shares (50%-50%) to Greece's DEPA International Projects and Italy's Edison.

Turkish company Kalyon has signed an agreement to build more than a 300-kilometer-long pipeline in Romania that will transport natural gas from the Black Sea.

The size of the Tuzla-Podisor gas transmission pipeline project is around 500 million euros, according to a statement released by the Romanian national gas transmission company Transgaz.

The Elin gas station chain and Blue Grid on Wednesday announced that, as part of their collaboration, they are creating the first liquefied and compressed natural gas (LNG-CNG) station in Attica, at Thriassio, west of the capital, which is expected to be put into operation in the first quarter of 2024.

For the first time in the last two years, the National Statistical Institute reported deflation. It is only 0.1% in May compared to April. For the last time, and only once in June, deflation was reported in June 2021.

On an annual basis, however, inflation remains in double digits and is 10.1%. Food prices continue to rise.

DEPA Commercial is among the winners of an auction for the supply of Moldova with natural gas.

The auction, held by Energocom, covers a significant part of natural gas supply of the Moldovan market during the summer period, with the product to be delivered in the Isaccea/Orlovka interconnection point between Romania and Hungary.

"Bulgargaz" proposed a 15% reduction in the price of gas in June, and the state energy regulator EWRC approved the proposal at its meeting today.

The Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) has said that it will take a government decision on free natural gas into account when calculating the May inflation, and that it is expected to have a strong effect in pushing the inflation index down.

Cyprus wants to establish itself as a gateway from East Mediterranean gas resources to Europe via a shipping corridor of LNG carriers, its president said on Monday. 

Cyprus' new centrist government, which came to power in February, has cooled to the idea championed by its predecessors of an "EastMed" pipeline transferring gas to Europe. 

Cyprus' minister of energy, George Papanastasiou, has affirmed Nicosia's commitment to proceed with its plans for transporting natural gas from the region, both for domestic electricity generation and for liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, despite geopolitical reactions.

Oil and gas company Chevron is "positive" about an Israeli-Cypriot plan for a pipeline that would convey offshore natural gas from both countries to Cyprus where it would be liquefied for export by ship to Europe and elsewhere, an official said Friday.