Liquefied natural gas

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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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.

Europe will remain heavily dependent on Russian gas supplies for at least the end of this decade and “potentially much longer”, Fitch Ratings has said.

Energy Minister Yiannis Maniatis has forwarded a request to the European Commission for the establishment of an emergency mechanism that would offer support to Greece and other EU member states in the event that they were affected by a natural gas supply stoppage from Russia via Ukraine.

Croatian politicians have hailed an EU decision to support the construction of a liquefied natural gas, LNG, terminal on the Croatian island of Krk, which will eventually be connected with the LNG terminal on the Baltic in Poland.

Europe could import African gas via Spain to reduce dependency on Russian resources, a Spanish expert believes.

"Spain's gas transportation system is well-developed. We could be a transit country for supplies to other European countries," Marta Margarit, spokesperson for the Association of Spanish Gas Companies, was quoted as saying by German radio Deutschlandfunk.

By Chryssa Liaggou

Major firms, including Qatar Petroleum and Gazprom, appear to be interested in creating the infrastructure to supply liquefied natural gas to ships in Piraeus. Meanwhile, the global natural gas industry is saying that natural gas as a fuel for transport could be made available at a price of just 50 percent of that paid for gasoline and 70 percent that for diesel.

Eighteen out of 24 Ukrainian regions have declared they have insufficient amount of liquefied gas (LNG), with Western town and cities most severely affected, local media report.

By Chryssa Liaggou

Socar is closely monitoring the implementation of the investment program of Greece’s natural gas transmission network operator (DESFA) that the Azeri state energy company will soon control after agreeing to buy a 66 percent stake in it.