Crisis in Ukraine: The government’s plan b for the smooth energy supply of the country

By Harry Floudopoulos

Ensuring the uninterrupted energy supply of the country, despite the conditions of war igniting in Ukraine, will be discussed during the extraordinary meeting of KYSEA, which will be attended by Energy Minister Costas Skrekas. The scenario that, although according to competent sources is not considered the most prevalent, will be considered is that of the interruption of the flow of natural gas imports from Russia. At present, Russian gas covers about 40 to 45% of the total gas consumption in our country.

Competent sources with whom he spoke Capital.gr They emphasize that for the time being there is no indication that Russia will stop the flow of natural gas to our country. The same sources estimate that it will be very difficult, even in case of war, to stop the flow of Russian gas to Greece, through the fault of the Russian side. It should be noted, however, that Russian gas imports are mainly through the pipeline through Ukraine.

However, regardless of whether there will eventually be a problem with Russian exports (for example in case sanctions are imposed on Russian energy exports at European level) the government and the Ministry of Energy have already considered and have an alternative plan for its uninterrupted energy supply. country.

This plan was presented by Mr. Skrekas during a meeting at the Maximos Palace last week and includes:

– The operation of gas plants that have the ability to operate with alternative diesel fuel. These are the Komotini and Lavrio 4 units of PPC as well as the Thisvi and ENTHES units of Elpedison and DRON 1 of GEK TERNA. The total power of the units that can run on diesel fuel exceeds 1700MW.

– The readiness of the PPC lignite fleet (securing lignite stocks in the yards of the units) in order to be able to meet the electricity demand.

– The utilization of the hydroelectric units of PPC, which have large stocks of water stored in the reservoirs due to the recent snowfall.

– The utilization of the Revythousa terminal for the import of additional loads of liquefied natural gas LNG. Already in February, 5 LNG loads have arrived (three loads of Mytilineos and two of DEPA), today another load is coming (Elpedison) while one last load is expected to arrive on Thursday (PPC). The import of 4 loads is already planned for March (1 load of Mytilineos, 1 load of Elpedison, 1 joint load of Mytilineos and Elpedison and 1 load of DEPA) with a total amount of 2 million MWh

– The uninterrupted continuation of the imports of Azeri natural gas from the TAP pipeline.

It is worth noting that imports through TAP and Revythousa fully cover the country’s gas needs for the current month and at a rate of more than 70% the needs of March. If necessary, dates are available for additional imports of LNG cargo.

Price crisis

While on the security front the picture conveyed by competent sources is reassuring, the same is not true of the strong concerns that exist about a new highly likely explosion in energy prices. In recent days, the stock market TTF price of natural gas had fallen to 69 euros / MWh. However, developments on the Ukrainian crisis front are expected to rekindle concerns about Europe’s safe and adequate gas supply and, in turn, trigger a new uptrend in gas prices and, consequently, electricity.

Finally, the same goes for oil. It is noted that already from yesterday afternoon until tonight, there was an upward trajectory of oil prices. At 4pm the price of brent was at $ 92.61 a barrel, to reach $ 96.29 at 10pm.

Source: Capital

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