November 17, 2025

by AEA in News

Project pipeline in Greece for CO2 capture, storage nearing EUR 4 billion

Carbon capture and storage projects worth as much as EUR 3.6 billion are under development in Greece. Energean’s subsidiary EnEarth has launched a tender for drilling two wells for the Prinos site under the Aegean Sea, while DESFA won a EUR 169 million EU grant for a carbon dioxide liquefaction unit.

Investors in Greece are counting on demand from the domestic industry for carbon capture and storage (CCS), so that it can remain competitive with regard to carbon dioxide emission costs. Euro2day calculated that the project pipeline is worth up to EUR 3.6 billion as the endeavors are clearing major milestones.

The time for drilling in Prinos is approaching. EnEarth, a subsidiary of Energean, is working on the establishment of the storage facility offshore Kavala. Earlier this month it launched a tender for drilling two wells.

The Prinos project is valued at EUR 1.2 billion

Works are scheduled to begin in the first half of next year. The project is worth EUR 1.2 billion, of which the firm secured EUR 270 million in funding from the European Union. It is waiting for environmental terms (AEPO) from the Ministry of Environment and Energy, as well as for the storage permit.

Notably, a draft law covering the sector is reportedly complete.

DESFA seeks contractor to drill two wells in Prinos

Another step ahead was achieved with a project for a pipeline that would transport CO2 from energy-intensive industrial facilities to a liquefaction system in Revithoussa. The endeavor is called ApolloCO2. Greece’s National Natural Gas System Operator (DESFA) won EUR 169.3 million through the European Union’s Innovation Fund for the terminal.

The system would include temporary storage and transport by ships to permanent storage. The budget amounts to EUR 700 million in the first phase, with another EUR 60 million envisaged for an expansion.

ApolloCO2 is in a group of 61 projects in the Innovation Fund’s latest round for net zero technology, worth EUR 2.9 billion in total.

DESFA is working on the investment with Ecolog, a subsidiary of GasLog.

EU funding three major carbon capture projects that would be connected with Prinos storage site

AppoloCO2 would bring CO2 from three capture facilities also funded by the EU. There is a possibility to involve overseas customers as well.

Cement maker Heracles, part of Holcim Group, is developing the Olympus project worth EUR 400 million in Milaki, Aliveri. Its competitor Titan has a EUR 584 million endeavor underway in Kamari, Boeotia (Viotia). It is called Ifestos.

DESFA has applied for EUR 30 million from Connecting Europe Facility for the CO2 pipeline

Motor Oil Hellas aims to install a unit in its Agioi Theodoroi oil refinery costing EUR 300 million to EUR 400 million. The project is called IRIS – Innovative low caRbon hydrogen and methanol productIon by large Scale carbon capture. It is for the construction and operation of a CCUS and e-methanol production system that would cut the refinery’s CO2 emissions by a quarter. CCUS stands for carbon capture, utilization and storage.

DESFA is seeking EUR 30 million from the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for a 35-kilometer CO2 pipeline. The first part would go from Ifestos and branch out to HELLENiQ Energy’s oil refinery in Elefsina (Eleusis). In subsequent phases, pipelines would reach Heracles’ Olympus, Metlen’s aluminum complex in Aspra Spitia, Thisvi in Boeotia (for GEK Terna’s Heron and HELLENiQ’s subsidiary Elpedison), and eventually Motor Oil’s IRIS.

As capacities grow, larger ships would be required to lower transportation costs. According to the article, three such vessels would cost EUR 240 million overall.

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May 17, 2025

by AEA in News

Works beginning on North Macedonian side of gas interconnector with Greece

The North Macedonian section of the gas interconnector with Greece is expected to be completed by early 2027. The construction contract was signed by the Ministry of Energy, Mining and Mineral Resources, domestic contractor Rapid Build and the country’s gas transmission system operator Nomagas.

The construction of the gas pipeline connecting North Macedonia with Greece is set to begin in a month, according to officials. Land expropriation is 90% complete. The initial capacity of the interconnector would be 1.5 billion cubic meters per year, with a potential to double it. The works are expected to be completed within 22 months.

„With the signing of the contract for the construction of the Macedonian section of the gas interconnector with Greece, we are marking the beginning of the largest energy investment in North Macedonia in the last ten years. The interconnector is proof that when there is political will, regional trust, and professional dedication – the results are real and tangible,” said Minister of Energy, Mining and Mineral Resources Sanja Božinovska.

The contract was signed by the ministry, contractor Rapid bild, based in Kumanovo in North Macedonia, and the country’s gas transmission system operator Nomagas. The future pipeline would be able to carry both natural gas and hydrogen.

Repeated tender slashes price by EUR 12 million

The winning bid was EUR 59.9 million or EUR 12 million less than in the initial tender, which was annulled.

The project is worth over MKD 5.1 billion (EUR 82.9 million). It is financed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). It includes grants of EUR 2.5 million for technical assistance and another EUR 9.9 million via the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF).

The project is financed by the EIB and EBRD

„This contract ensures diversification and access to a greater number of natural gas sources, enables economic development, progress and environmental protection, and contributes to the security of energy supply,” said Executive Director of Nomagas Muhamet Elmazi.

Gasification would significantly improve air quality, especially in areas where wood and fuel oil are currently used for heating.

Greek section of interconnector under construction since February

On the North Macedonian side, the interconnector route is 68 kilometers long, out of a total of 123 kilometers. It will run from Nea Mesimvria in Greece through Evzoni (Mačukovo) and Gevgelija at the border, to Negotino. The next phase involves building gas links from Gostivar to Kičevo (34 kilometers) and from Sveti Nikole to Veles (28 kilometers).

Greek company Terna began constructing its country’s section of the pipeline in February.

Nomagas and Greece’s National Natural Gas System Operator (DESFA) made their final investment decision a year and a half ago.

The companies leaned the investment on the project for the Alexandroupolis LNG Terminal. The liquefied natural gas facility in northeastern Greece was opened on October 1. However, due to a malfunction, it has been out of operation for more than three months. According to the latest update, gradual reactivation is expected to begin by the end of May.

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July 26, 2016

by AEA in News

Socar is running into problems concerning Desfa

Azerbaijan’s state energy company Socar is running into problems concerning its stake in Greece’s natural gas grid operator, Desfa, with the Greek parliament expected to vote imminently for a crucial change concerning the value of Desfa.

As a result, Socar is expected to send a delegation of senior officials to hold talks in Athens this week. They will address two main problems. The first concerns the size of Socar’s stake in Desfa. The second – which is both far more important and far more complex – concerns the methodology of accounting within Desfa.

The first point is relatively straightforward. When Socar won the tender to acquire a 66% stake in Desfa for €400mn in June 2013, purchasing a 35% stake from Hellenic Petroleum and a 31% stake from Greek government, it had strong EU backing, not least because the leading alternative bidder was a Russian company, Sintez. At the time, the EU was also worried that Gazprom would seek to purchase Desfa’s parent company, Depa, the Greek natural gas supply company. In the event, however, nobody bid for Depa and only Socar bid for Desfa.

But in late 2013, Socar was a party to the final investment decisions which secured the development of the cluster of projects known as the Southern Gas Corridor, which included development of the giant Shah Deniz Phase Two project and the associated Trans-Adriatic Pipeline. This potentially put Socar in conflict with EU regulations since Socar would be a shareholder in TAP – it subsequently took a 20% stake in the pipeline – and because the line would be used to carry SD2 gas that was partially owned by Socar to market in Greece, Albania and Italy – and probably Bulgaria as well.

Socar therefore agreed to reduce its stake in Desfa to 49%. A senior Socar official, contacted by NGE in Baku recently, said that Italy’s Snam-Rete has agreed to take up part of this 17% and that discussions are continuing with other prospective buyers. Socar’s president Rovnag Abdullayev has previously mentioned Spain’s Enagas as a possible buyer. This issue may take time to solve but, the official said, the company is confident that it will be resolved satisfactorily.

It is the second issue that is truly troublesome. Greek energy minister Panos Skourletis recently submitted an amendment current regulations intended to reduce Desfa’s regulatory asset base, apparently from around the €1bn figure assumed by Socar to around €800mn. This would be accomplished by taking out some €200mn in government funds that Desfa had included in the regulated asset base in the initial three-year period. The ministry is asserting that this €200mn should not have been included in the original methodology.

However, a €200mn reduction would radically change the basis on which Socar would be able to secure a return on its initial investment. According to Greek regulations, Desfa is guaranteed to secure an 11.5% return upon its regulatory asset base. And if it does not get the money in the first three years, the guarantee is that it will be able to make up the difference in the second three-year period. This would be achieved by increasing tariffs.

The problem is that if the value of the regulated asset base is reduced in the manner proposed by Skourletis, tariffs would have to be increased by around 80% in order to ensure Socar received a full 11.5% return over both the initial three-year period from 2013-16 and the following three-year period from 2016-19.

And such an increase would be intolerable for Greece’s gas consumers at a time of continued severe economic constraint. Moreover, reducing the value of the regulated asset base could reduce the prospect that Snam-Rete and other companies might be willing to invest in Desfa.

From Socar’s perspective, there are two main problems in this dispute. The first is one of perception, that there has been a lack of government communication with Socar about the issue. What’s happening, one senior Socar executive commented privately, is “government by press release.”

The more substantive problem is how to square the dilemma that Socar should receive its promised internal rate of return without Greek natural gas customers having to pay far more than they can afford.

One possible solution is that the shortfall in payments from the first three-year period may be amortised. But other alternatives are also being explored. At this stage, no-one is sure just how the situation will develop.

October 2, 2015

by AEA in News

SOCAR’s buying stake in DESFA runs smoothly.

The process of acquisition of a 66 percent stake in the Greek DESFA gas operator by SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) runs smoothly, Greek Productive Reconstruction, Energy and Environment Minister Panos Skourletis said, the Greek media reported Oct.1.

Skourletis made the remarks at a meeting with Azerbaijani Ambassador to Greece Rahman Mustafayev, Adviser to the SOCAR President Murad Heydarov and head of SOCAR Energy Greece Anar Mammadov.

Skourletis went on to add that one should expect the concrete results on the sale of DESFA’s stake to SOCAR in the coming months.

“This process is developing in a way which would meet the requirements of the European Commission’s Directorate-General, and it runs smoothly,” said Skourletis.

In addition, the sides discussed the implementation of the TAP pipeline project during the meeting.

The Greek minister told at the meeting about the overall progress achieved during discussions with the TAP representatives on resolving the issue regarding the gas pipeline route on the Greek territory.

Earlier, SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev said that SOCAR is ready for talks with European companies on selling the 16-percent share in Greek DESFA gas transmission system operator.

SOCAR won a tender in December 2013 on the sale of 66-percent share in DESFA for 400 million euros.

The European Commission started an inquiry into the compliance of the deal on acquisition of a stake in DESFA with the EU’s regulations In November 2014. Currently, the deal is being considered by European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition, and the procedure will last until late 2015.

SOCAR is the sole producer of oil products in Azerbaijan. It has two oil refineries and filling stations in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Romania and Switzerland. The company is the co-owner of the largest Turkish petrochemical complex, Petkim, and other assets in Turkey.

The company is currently carrying out work as part of ensuring the Azerbaijani gas supplies to Europe. Work is underway in this regard within the second stage of development of the Shah Deniz offshore gas and condensate field, and for expansion of the South Caucasus Pipeline.

Moreover, projects are being developed for construction of the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).

TAP will transport natural gas from the giant ‘Shah Deniz 2’ field in Azerbaijan to Europe.

The approximately 870 km long pipeline will connect with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi, cross Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Southern Italy.

The pipeline’s construction is expected to start in 2016.

TAP’s initial capacity will be 10 billion cubic meters per year, expandable to 20 billion cubic meters per year.

TAP’s shareholding is comprised of BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Statoil (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagás (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).