Falling demand natural gas in the domestic market by 19.04% occurred in 2022 compared to 2021, led by the high voltage industry, which has developed into alternative fuels, reducing the consumption of imported fuel by more than 68%. However, the total amount of natural gas entering the Greek system increased by 11.11% as a result of a sharp increase in exports (288.68%) compared to the previous year, which underlines the country’s growing role as a natural gas transit agent in the Balkans and the Eastern Europe. 34.27% of the amount of natural gas entering the Greek system in 2022, according to DESFA, was exported mainly to the Bulgarian market. The protagonist of this development is Revitussa, which covered 44.2% of imports from 31% in the previous year, increasing its share by 54.04%. The Megara Bay terminal received 78 tankers from 10 countries, up from 35 tankers last year, with 51.29% of volumes coming from the US as US LNG shipments increased 63.55% from 2021 when the US again ranked first, but imports decreased by 26.9% compared to 2020.

US imports reached 20.10 TWh compared to 12.29 TWh the previous year. In fourth place in terms of LNG imports among 10 source countries is Russia with 2.03 TWh compared to zero LNG imports in 2021. The volumes of Russian natural gas entering the Greek system through Sidirokastro decreased by 16.34% compared to 2021 and covered 34.34% of imports. (29.59 TWh). Azerbaijani gas through TAP covered 18.64% of imports (16.06 TWh), demonstrating an increase of 18% compared to 2021, while gas entering the system through Evros Gardens (Turkish Botas) covered 2.82% (2 .43 TWh), a decrease of 39.72%. Total natural gas demand (domestic market and imports) reached 86.18 TWh in 2022 from 77.56 TWh in 2021.

Gas exports rose by 288%, reflecting the rise of Greece on the new energy map of Europe.

As for the domestic market, the largest decline with a percentage of 68.08% is shown by energy-intensive industries, which have reduced natural gas consumption to 2.80 TWh from 8.78 TWh in 2021, which means that they continue to burn natural gas. only those that did not have alternative fuels. Households and SMEs reduced their consumption by 7.32%, consuming a total of 12.18 TWh compared to 13.13 TWh in 2021. There is also a significant reduction in the consumption of natural gas for electricity generation as a result of a reduction in electricity consumption, as the share of natural gas in the structure of electricity generation in 2022 increases by 1% compared to 2021. The amount of natural gas directed to power generation installations decreased by 13 .26% to 41.66 TWh compared to 48.03 TWh in 2021. However, the share of natural gas for electricity generation in total demand in 2022 reached 73.55% from 68.65% in 2021, households and small businesses – up to 21.5% from 18.77%, and the share of energy-intensive industries decreased to 4.95% from 12.56%. in 2021.