Photo: Gastrade
On the day when it was supposed to get the Alexandroupolis LNG Terminal in Greece back online, its operator Gastrade extended the outage by another month. The company never revealed the details of the malfunction.
Just as gas storage in the European Union slipped below 40% of capacity, the operator of the Alexandroupolis LNG Terminal substantially pushed back the target date of restarting operations. Located offshore northeastern Greece, the facility has major potential for boosting the market in other Southeastern European countries and providing ample supply.
After several shorter delays, Gastrade extended the outage by another month, until March 31. On January 23 it reported a technical issue. Then it announced that a limited regasification service would be available, but there were virtually no gas flows for a few days. On January 28, the company declared that the liquefied natural gas facility went offline.
Gastrade was supposed to bring Europe’s newest LNG terminal back to service on February 28. Instead, it prolonged the outage for a whole month that day, fueling concerns about the severity of the malfunction and speculation about the cause.
Operators association Gas Infrastructure Europe and the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG) noted the update.
Capacity utilization of Alexandroupolis LNG Terminal was relatively low
Put into commercial operation at the beginning of October, the facility could regasify LNG to as much as 5.5 billion cubic meters per year. The capacity of the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), the LNG ship, is 153,500 cubic meters.
Gastrade’s update fueled concerns about the severity of the malfunction and speculation about the cause.
Importantly, the Alexandroupolis LNG terminal has only a handful of contracts. It means the controversial breakdown doesn’t directly jeopardize gas supply in the Balkans much. In addition, Bulgaria’s Bulgargaz secured a replacement from Turkey.
Founding shareholder Elmina Copelouzou, LNG carrier fleet owner and operator GasLog, DEPA Commercial, Bulgartransgaz and Greece’s National Natural Gas System Operator (DESFA) all control 20% each in the joint venture in Alexandroupolis.
Discussions are underway in the European Union to cut back the obligatory 90% gas storage level, on November 1 each year, to 80%. The measure obviously wouldn’t help next winter’s security of supply, but there would be less demand and upward pressure on prices.
Balkan Stream pipeline is currently only direct route for Russian gas
Just before the Alexandroupolis LNG Terminal crashed, an outage at Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz gas field disrupted the deliveries to Europe through the Southern Gas Corridor, toward the Trans Adriatic Pipeline – TAP.
Ukraine declined to renew a contract with Russia, halting the flow of gas to Central Europe at the beginning of the year. The TurkStream and Balkan Stream pipelines remained the only direct and operating route for Russian gas.
Serbia, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia are counting on the Alexandroupolis LNG Terminal, the new interconnectors between Greece and Bulgaria (IGB) and Bulgaria and Serbia as well as on deliveries of gas from Azerbaijan. In addition, there are plans for gas pipelines connecting North Macedonia with Greece and Serbia.
Serbia and Romania intend to build a gas link of 1.6 billion cubic meters in annual capacity. Minister of Energy Sebastian Burduja said last year that Romania has become the biggest natural gas producer in the European Union. Moreover, its Neptun Deep offshore field is due to come online in 2027.
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