27 European and US companies interested in capacity in Greece’s gas network

Nearly 30 American and European companies have expressed interest in booking capacity in Greece’s gas network, which would allow them to transit natural gas to Europe in the coming decades. Reuters reported this, citing an announcement today by the network operator DESFA. Slovakia is among those interested.

Greece has become a key gas transit route in Europe, thanks to an LNG facility near Athens. It has seen increased traffic since the war in Ukraine disrupted Russian gas flows to the continent.

Greece is also connected to Bulgaria and Turkey. Athens is also building or planning several floating storage and regasification units.

DESFA launched a market test in March to gauge companies’ interest in booking future capacity at the network’s entry and exit points. Companies from Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Germany, Cyprus, North Macedonia and the United States have requested capacity from next year through 2050, the network operator said in a statement.

The outcome of the test is non-binding. The binding phase is expected to begin next year and will end with capacity being allocated to bidders that meet the criteria, DESFA said.