The Minister for Environment and Energy Stavros Papastavrou, attended the inauguration of the Ampelia Natural Gas Compressor Station of the Operator of the Greek National Natural Gas System (DESFA) on Friday.

According to the Ministry of Environment and Energy, the project significantly enhances security of supply and operational flexibility within the National Natural Gas Transmission System, upgrading Greece’s role as an energy hub.
The Ampelia Compressor Station is one of the largest investments made in recent years in the Region of Thessaly, with a total budget of 73.94 million euros. It has also been designed with specifications that allow for the reception of hydrogen mixtures with natural gas, enhancing the long-term compatibility of the infrastructure with the energy transition.

Papastavrou referred to the keynote role of DESFA, which he said is transforming Greece’s geography into a genuine energy powerhouse, enabling the country to contribute effectively to the European effort to reduce dependence on Russian natural gas.

“The new compressor station is one of the keys to transforming Greece into a natural gas supply gateway for the north-eastern and, potentially, central regions of our continent,” Papastavrou said, and added that Greece now “ constitutes a stable energy hub between East and West and stands at the starting point of the North-South axis”.

“In this context of tectonic shifts, where even traditional alliances, such as the Euro-Atlantic one, are being tested, energy takes on yet another important function: it is becoming a necessary point of convergence, a real common ground between Europe and the United States of America, a bridge spanning the Atlantic, opening up avenues for transnational cooperation and arteries of mutual progress and prosperity, with Greece at the centre,” he concluded.