Greece is unlikely to face a gas shortage in the coming winter, as it is better-prepared than last year, Deputy Energy Minister Alexandra Sdoukou said. 

 

The state-run Athens-Macedonian news agency quoted Sdoukou as saying at a Conference in Warsaw on Thursday, that a national threat assessment report for the coming winter does not indicate a significant lack of natural gas supplies. 

 

Moroever, the new lignite unit in Ptolemaida V (660 MW) will contribute to energy needs this year, while the commerical operation of the new floating LNG station in Alexandroupolis will be able to guarantee the adequate natural gas reserves both for the Greek and the Balkan market very soon. 

 

Sdoukou said that the demand for natural gas between August 2022 and March 2023 dropped by 31% compared to the same period in 2022, and by 18.2% compared to the average of the last five years. Greece also reduced its dependence on Russian natural gas form 40% to 20%, she added.