Greece’s Energy Minister Yiannis Maniatis in Tuesday announced state sell-off fund TAIPED’s proclamation of a tender for the creation of a natural gas storage facility at the South Kavala reserve in eastern Macedonia.
Addressing the 19th national energy conference of the Institute of Energy of South East Europe (IENE), Maniatis noted the three-year delay on the issue and added that the ministry has now set matters on course so that the tender can start very soon, adding that this is an investment that can attract international investors.
The storage facility is among the European Union’s priority projects as it is exceptionally important for energy security. It will also constitute one of three possible sources of supply for the pipeline linking the Greek islands of the Aegean with the Baltic countries, which the Greek side expects to start operating by 2017. The other two sources will be the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and the offshore storage units planned in northern Greece.
The country’s aim is to evolve into a key energy player in the broader region. Besides TAP, which Maniatis says is on schedule, this goal will be realized through the pipeline connecting the reserves of the Eastern Mediterranean with other European markets by way of Cyprus, Crete and mainland Greece, and the EastMed and IGI pipelines, which Maniatis branded as top priority reports Kathimerini.
