Greece said on Tuesday it had put the finishing touches on legislation to open to competition the country’s 1.5-billion-euro ($2.03 billion) natural gas market. The Energy Ministry said it had signed into law a batch of rules that clarify licensing and other technical issues. “This completes harmonization of Greek with European Union legislation and effectively liberalizes the Greek natural gas market,” it said in a statement. Red tape keeps private operators from competing with state monopoly DEPA. In December, private energy firms Motor Oil and Mytilineos had to cancel the country’s first private import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) because grid operator DESFA delayed approving it.
Liberalization of Greece’s natural gas market will make it easier for the country to achieve an ambitious target of reducing carbon emissions from coal-fired power stations run by state-controlled Public Power Corporation. LNG from Algeria currently accounts for nearly a quarter of Greece’s total annual natural gas imports of about 4 billion cubic meters, with the rest coming via a pipeline from Russia. (Reuters)