Liquefied natural gas (LNG) deliveries to Greece’s Revithoussa terminal decreased by 27.1 percent in the first quarter of this year, with the US and Russia supplying the majority of the volumes, according to DESFA.
The LNG shipments in the January-March period totaled 6.93 terawatt hours, or 9 tankers, the Greek gas grid and LNG terminal operator said.
This compares to 9.51 terawatt hours, or 13 tankers, in the same period in 2023.
Greek LNG imports dropped by 27.2 percent last year to 28.52 terawatt hours, or 41 tankers, compared to record 78 cargoes and 39.19 TWh of LNG in 2022.
US, Russian volumes up
The US remained the largest LNG supplier to Greece in the first quarter of this year.
More than 65 percent of the LNG volumes came from the US, reaching 4.54 TWh, a rise of 14 percent compared to 3.98 TWh in the same period last year.
Russia ranked second with 1.91 TWh, a rise of 82 percent compared to the last year.
Besides the US and Russia, Algeria supplied 0.48 TWh to Greece during the period, down 67 percent year-on-year.
DESFA said that 39 percent of all imported gas to Greece in the first quarter, including pipeline gas, came via the Revithoussa terminal.
Total gas imports to Greece amounted to 16.55 TWh, a drop of 8.4 percent from the first quarter of 2023.
DESFA said domestic natural gas consumption in Greece has recorded an increase compared to last year, with consumption data for the first quarter signaling the return of the natural gas market to its pre-crisis level, as the impact of the war in Ukraine has begun to recede.
Domestic natural gas consumption increased by 30.9 percent to 16.22 TWh.
However, total natural gas demand decreased by 8.6 percent to 16.51 TWh due to the significant decrease in exports by 94.9 percent to 0.29 TWh, it said.
Exports have decreased in the first quarter of 2024 due to Bulgaria’s increasing gas imports from Turkey, DESFA said.
Alexandroupolis FSRU
LNG imports to Greece are expected to rise due to the launch of Gastrade’s FSRU-based LNG import terminal off Alexandroupolis.
This is the first FSRU-based LNG facility in Greece and the second LNG import terminal.
DESFA is also a shareholder in this facility along founder Copelouzou, DEPA, Bulgartransgaz, and GasLog.
The 2018-built 174,000-cbm LNG carrier, GasLog Hong Kong, delivered on February 18 the commissioning cargo from the US to the 153,600-cbm Alexandroupolis.
This LNG carrier, chartered by France’s TotalEnergies, brought the shipment from Sempra’s Cameron LNG plant in Louisiana, while Gastrade’s shareholder DEPA sold some of these commissioning volumes to Moldova’s state-owned energy firm Energocom.
Gastrade recently told LNG Prime that it expects to launch commercial operations at the end of April and to receive the second LNG cargo in mid-May.