Liquefied natural gas

By Nikos Roussanoglou

Greek shipowners have invested a total of 1.44 billion euros in acquiring 11 liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers so far this year, according to a report in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal.

The Vertical Gas Corridor connecting the gas grids of Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania, will have a capacity of 3-5 billion cubic meters a year, according to reports of Greece's Energy Ministry.

On Tuesday, the three countries agreed to build the Vertical Gas Corridor as an alternative to the South Stream gas pipeline project, according to the Bulgarian National Radio.

Croatian deputy prime minister Branko Grcic said on Wednesday that the cancellation of the South Stream project was "an impulse to build the LNG terminal even faster".

Grcic said that the cancellation of South Stream, which was due to take Russian gas through Bulgaria and Serbia to Europe, would make the terminal on Krk more valuable.

Greece can become a natural gas price hub for southeast Europe within three to four years as supply projects come together in the Mediterranean nation, according to Depa SA.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has hailed a new 4.4-billion cubic meter natural gas deal between Turkey and Algeria.

In an official visit to the Algerian capital of Algiers, Erdoğan praised the agreement between the national hydrocarbon company of Algeria and the Turkish state-owned oil and natural gas pipeline company BOTAŞ, who extended their agreement for 10 years.

The creation of a commercial natural gas hub in Greece will be absolutely possible in five years’ time, according to a study presented on Tuesday in Athens by the Institute for Energy in Southeast Europe (IENE).

BELGRADE - The Blue Corridor 2014 natural gas vehicle rally arrived in Belgrade on Monday for the first time ever.

The goal of the rally, which hit the road in Saint Petersburg in mid-October, is to draw attention to the large traffic flow between Western and Eastern Europe, which can become environmentally acceptable with compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

By Chryssa Liaggou

Turkey could become a natural gas hub with its LNG terminals at the border of Greece and Bulgaria, according to an official from BOTAŞ, Turkey’s state-run gas pipeline company.

Greece is in talks over extra imports of liquefied natural gas from Algeria to avert possible shortages in case of a cut in Russian gas supplies, a senior Greek official has said.

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