Fuel gas

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has hailed a new 4.4-billion cubic meter natural gas deal between Turkey and Algeria.

In an official visit to the Algerian capital of Algiers, Erdoğan praised the agreement between the national hydrocarbon company of Algeria and the Turkish state-owned oil and natural gas pipeline company BOTAŞ, who extended their agreement for 10 years.

The coming tender to privatize the distribution of Istanbul’s gas to its 5.1 million customers should not be seen as a simple commercial transaction of “whoever pays the most in the bidding round will win the contract.”

It is rather strategic for many reasons affecting Turkey’s energy security, investment climate, environmental quality and trading ties.

The creation of a commercial natural gas hub in Greece will be absolutely possible in five years’ time, according to a study presented on Tuesday in Athens by the Institute for Energy in Southeast Europe (IENE).

BELGRADE - The Blue Corridor 2014 natural gas vehicle rally arrived in Belgrade on Monday for the first time ever.

The goal of the rally, which hit the road in Saint Petersburg in mid-October, is to draw attention to the large traffic flow between Western and Eastern Europe, which can become environmentally acceptable with compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

By Chryssa Liaggou

Turkey could become a natural gas hub with its LNG terminals at the border of Greece and Bulgaria, according to an official from BOTAŞ, Turkey’s state-run gas pipeline company.

Greece is in talks over extra imports of liquefied natural gas from Algeria to avert possible shortages in case of a cut in Russian gas supplies, a senior Greek official has said.

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The expansion of Bulgaria's Chiren underground gas depot will cost around EUR 200 M, according to Kiril Temelkov, CEO of state-owned gas transmission operator Bulgartransgaz.

After five years (2009-13) of decline, the fuel market returned to positive territory in June, albeit at the marginal rate of 0.3 percent year-on-year, according to official data, capitalizing on the first signs of economic recovery in Greece.

By Henning Gloystein

LONDON - The European Union could ban gas exports and limit industrial use as part of emergency measures to protect household energy supplies this winter, a source told Reuters, as it braces for a possible halt in Russian gas as a result of the Ukraine crisis.