Natural gas

The United States wants to see northern Greece become a gateway for the transportation of natural gas and commodities to the Western Balkans and Europe, US Ambassador in Athens Geoffrey Pyatt tells Kathimerini.

The United States has sent a clear message of support for international interconnection projects for the transmission of natural gas from sources outside Russia - which Greece is also involved in - through Ambassador Geoffrey R. Pyatt.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak met Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova in Sofia Wednesday.

Тhe price of natural gas in Bulgaria will not go up by more than 2.4% after the introduction of the new system on the natural gas market, analysis of Bulgartransgaz shows.

The analysis was presented at a meeting at the Bulgarian Ministry of Energy.

''The increase in the final price of natural gas will be below 2%. It is not true that gas will rise by 60%.'' This was announced by the Minister of Energy Temenuzhka Petkova at a briefing in the Council of Ministers, reported BGNES.

The executive board of Greece's privatization agency, the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (TAIPED), is set to approve a short list of candidates for the acquisition of a 66 percent stake in natural gas transmission system operator DESFA.

In June 2017 compared to May 2017 an increase is reported for the production of:

 electricity - by 3.7% to 3 324 GWh, according to data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI).

A decrease is reported for the production of:

 solid fuels - by 12.8% to 2 483 thousand tonnes;

 liquefied petroleum gases - by 9.1% to 10 thousand tonnes;

Royal Dutch Shell Plc is looking to bring natural gas from Israel and Cyprus to market, a step that could help turn the Mediterranean region into a major gas-producing hub.

According to sources, Shell is in talks to buy natural gas from Israel’s Leviathan field and combine it with output from Cyprus’ Aphrodite field – in which has a 35% stake – and pump it to an LNG plant in Egypt.

In 2017 Russian gas Giant Gazprom has increased supplies to countries that may become natural gas consumers using the Turkish Stream pipeline in the future, reported Dnes.bg.

For Bulgaria, the rise has reached 11.1%compared to January-August last year.

 Exports to Turkey grew  by 22.4%, for Greece - by 13.2%, for Serbia- by 40.8% and for Hungary - by 24.4%.

Turkey's Unit International has signed a $7 billion agreement with Russia's state-owned Zarubezhneft and Iran's Ghadir Investment Holding to drill for oil and natural gas in Iran, the company said on Aug. 15.