- 14.11% increase in natural gas consumption in Greece for the first half of 2021 compared to last year’s corresponding period. Total demand increased at 7.29% (domestic consumption and exports)
- Sidirokastro remains the main gateway for natural gas to the NNGS during the first half of 2021, with a percentage of 45.01%
- Entry Point in Nea Mesimvria holds a significant share in the gas inflow, following the interconnection with the TAP pipeline from the beginning of the year
- Electricity producers represented over 60% of the domestic gas consumption – Increased demand from industries & CNG and distribution networks
The upward trend for natural gas consumption in Greece continues, according to DESFA’s data for the first half of 2021. The entry point to Sidirokastro remains the main gas inflow gate to the National Natural Gas System (NNGS), while the contribution of the new entry point in Nea Mesimvria, following the interconnection with the TAP pipeline since the beginning of 2021, is also remarkable.
Specifically, according to DESFA’s data for the period January – June 2021, domestic gas consumption increased by 14.11%, reaching 33.8 Terawatt hours (TWh) from 29.62 TWh in the corresponding last year period. The total demand, which reached 37.47 TWh, increased by 7.29% compared to the same period in 2020.
Natural gas imports amounted to 37.55 TWh, showing an increase compared to 34.93 TWh in the first half of 2020. The largest quantities entered from Sidirokastro (16.9 TWh), showing an increase of over 23% compared to the first half of 2020 and covering 45,01% of imports. The LNG Terminal of Revithoussa (entry point of Ag. Triada) covered 31.32% of the imports with 11.76 TWh.
The new entry point of Nea Mesimvria, which, following the interconnection with TAP, covered 17.55% of the imports within the first half of its operation, with more than 6.58 TWh, significantly contributed to the inflow of natural gas into the NNGS. Finally, approximately 2.3 TWh (6.12%) were imported in the NNGS from the interconnection of Kipoi, Evros.
As far as the gas consumers’ categories are concerned, electricity producers continue recording the highest consumption, covering more than 60% of domestic demand with 20.43 TWh out of a total of 33.8 TWh consumed, a quantity 14.47% higher than the same period last year. Consumption recorded through distribution networks increased by 6.59%, compared to the first half of 2020 and amounting to 7.60 TWh corresponding to nearly 23% of the demand. Consumption by domestic industries and CNG in the first half of 2021 reached 5.77 TWh, recording an increase of 24.41% compared to the first half of 2020 and covering 17% of demand.
In addition, about 9.81% of the total demand for the first half of this year concerned gas exports to Bulgaria from the Sidirokastro interconnection point. More specifically, exports to Bulgaria amounted to about 3.68 TWh, a quantity reduced by 30.75% compared to the corresponding period of 2020. The decrease is attributed to the return of prices for LNG to higher levels compared to last year’s first half.
Regarding LNG imports at the Revithoussa Terminal during the period January-June 2021, they concerned about 10.77 TWh from 15 vessels compared to about 19.04 TWh from 28 vessels in the corresponding period of the previous year. The reductions mainly concern LNG imports from the USA and Qatar (-59.30% and -50.97% decrease respectively), while LNG imports from Algeria increased quite notably by 141.26% compared to the first half of 2020. LNG imports from Egypt also increased by 10.84%. Τhe US LNG imports in our country held the first place with 4.10 TWh (38.1%), with Algeria coming second with 3.45 TWh (32.1%), followed by Qatar and Egypt with 2.29 TWh (21.2%) and 0.93 TWh (8.6%), respectively.
DESFA’s infrastructures continue to contribute substantially to the diversification of gas supply sources and security of supply. Finally, the liberalization of the energy market and the Third-Party Access (TPA), under which DESFA operates, strengthen price competition. Third-party access (TPA) is governed by the provisions of European Union and national law, ensuring open access to any interested party.
