DEPA

Greece's anti-money laundering authority has ordered a probe into the assets and bank accounts - both local and foreign - of all parties implicated in a scandal involving the Public Gas Corporation (DEPA) and Greek Fertilizers and Chemicals (ELFE), the latter of which is owned by disgraced businessman Lavrentis Lavrentiadis.

The Energy Ministry will table a bill in Parliament on Thursday aimed at closing all the crucial energy issues that remain open ahead of the Euro Working Group of this Friday.

The government will offer permanent jobs to 200 workers contracted to the Public Gas Corporation (DEPA) ahead of the utility's breakup and sale.

To sidestep the rule that only the civil servant hirings council (ASEP) can select DEPA staff, the Energy Ministry will make 200 staff from DEPA subsidiaries permanent.

Privatizations will speed up in the first half of the year, although we have entered an election period and the pace is expected to slow, Aris Xenofos, who heads the TAIPED sell-off fund, told the Athens Energy Forum on Monday.

An Athens prosecutor on Friday ordered a preliminary investigation into reports that a close associate of a government minister had tried to intervene so that a company owned by disgraced businessman Lavrentis Lavrentiadis could get out of paying more than 120 million euros in debts to the Public Gas Corporation (DEPA).

Energy authorities have been in emergency mode over the last few days to ensure a sufficient supply of electricity and natural gas to Greece, as a prolonged cold spell has shot demand up to record levels and the gas network is operating without reserves, despite the operation of the new depot on Revithoussa island.

Greece's state-controlled DEPA gas company has concluded the acquisition of Shell's 49 percent stake in a domestic gas supplier and in a gas distributor in Athens, becoming the sole stakeholder in the two companies, it said on Wednesday.

Kathimerini has seen documents from general shareholders meetings and court case evidence that point to plans to sell properties belonging to Hellenic Fertilizers and Chemicals SA (ELFE) to the Public Gas Corporation (DEPA) at a price 10 times their true value of 8.9 million euros with the aim of having equivalent debts to the energy supplier written off.

 Bulgaria plans to become a shareholder in a liquefied natural gas terminal off the coast of northern Greece by the end of the year as the Balkan country tries to diversify its energy supplies, Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova reported, quoted by Reuters. 

The European Commission on Thursday offered tangible support to the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) natural gas pipeline project, ruling that Greek and Bulgarian plans for its implementation do not constitute a state subsidy.