Revitus and the Gulf of Megara are seeing a glut of LNG cargoes as European countries rush to make up for Russian gas shortfalls and build stocks ahead of winter. Large foreign importers have also been vying for space at the Revitus facilities since August to resell cargo in the Bulgarian and Romanian markets, with competition peaking ahead of the DESFA competition for the 2023 annual schedule.

High demand for LNG and the potential of the country to develop gas transit through Revitusa and the new terminal at Alexandroupolis, which will be completed in 2023, is evidenced by the fact that 15 LNG cargoes were moored in Revitus in August compared to 3 shipments in the corresponding month . last year, while September 13 were scheduled and October 6, the throughput is however more than the amount of the previous month.

The revised DESFA program for 2022 clearly shows the strengthening of Revitoussa’s export character and international interest. Of the 15 cargoes in August and the corresponding 13 in September, 7 are transported by foreign companies, namely the Hungarian NET Energy and Boulgargaz, and in October the Austrian OMV appears for the first time with a heavy load of 1 million megawatt hours. . Mytileneos remains the main importer with a large share, while Elpedison, DEPA, PPC and Motor Oil carry smaller shipments. Traffic in Megara Bay is expected to pick up in the coming months as DESFA includes a new floating FSU in its annual plans.

Main gas port

Foreign importers are vying to resell cargo to Bulgaria and Romania, and competition is heating up ahead of the 2023 DESFA tender.

In the first half of 2022, Revitussa became the country’s main gateway for natural gas, covering, according to DESFA data, 44% of the country’s total gas imports, contributing to a 134.33% increase in exports over the same period. In particular, approximately 16.61 TWh of LNG were unloaded by 39 tankers from 6 countries compared to approximately 10.76 TWh by 15 tankers from 4 countries in the corresponding period of 2021.

The increase mainly concerns LNG cargo from the US, which reached 9.79 TWh against 4.09 TWh in the same period last year, while the US remains the largest importer of LNG to our country with a share of 58.94%. In second place was imports from Algeria (2.47 TWh), followed by Egypt (2 TWh), Nigeria (1.20 TWh) and Oman (1.03 TWh) and Indonesia last (0.11 TWh) .

Increased demand

The total demand for natural gas in Greece in the first half of the year increased by 3.84%, reaching 38.91 terawatt-hours compared to 37.47 terawatt-hours in the corresponding period last year. Russian natural gas covered 34.25%, while 19.19% came through the Tap pipeline and 2.3% through the Greek-Turkish connection in the Evros Gardens. 67.27% of the demand was covered by power units, since natural gas still occupies a large share (40%-60%) in the structure of electricity generation.