Significant developments serving to establish Greece’s role as the energy gateway of SE Europe, and in particular as an entry point for liquefied natural gas that will be gasified and channeled to the countries of the region through the Greek system, are expected within 2026.

The “key” to the whole issue is the activation of the “vertical” corridor that starts from Greece and ends in Ukraine and in particular the three routes (with corresponding starting points from the liquefied natural gas stations of Revithoussa, Alexandroupolis and the connection point with the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).

The last auction held in December for the reservation of capacity in the pipeline systems that run from Greece to Ukraine did not attract interest from suppliers, a fact that is attributed to the legal and regulatory issues in the framework governing these supply routes. The auctions that will follow this year will be critical tests for the resolution of these pending issues by the competent services in Brussels and the attraction of business interest.

According to informed sources at the Ministry of Environment and Energy, the issue is necessarily directly linked to the EU’s commitment, under its trade agreement with the United States, to purchase liquefied natural gas, oil and nuclear energy products worth 750 billion dollars by 2028. Achieving this target, the sources emphasised, requires the full utilisation of the vertical corridor. The sources noted that, in the absence of progress, U.S. intervention via the European Commission to resolve the outstanding issues is a possibility.

The same sources additionally reported that the process for increasing the share capital of power grid operator IPTO will soon be launched in order to secure the funds required to finance the Operator’s investment programme. These are investments of over six billion euros up until 2030, focusing on the development of international and domestic interconnections as well as the modernisation of the network.