The consumption of natural gas in Greece decreased by 15.38 per cent in the first nine months of 2023 compared to the previous year, according to the data of the country’s transmission system operator DESFA. During this period, Revithoussa Terminal served as the primary entry point for natural gas imports into the country, with the Sidirokastro entry point showing a decrease of around 30 per cent compared to the same period in the previous year.
Notably, natural gas exports recorded a decrease of 28.89 per cent, compared to the previous year, with approximately 14.52 terawatt-hours (TWh) exported. The primary reason for this decrease is the commencement of operations of the ICGB pipeline on October 1 2022, which now transports Azeri natural gas to Bulgaria. Before this, Azeri gas was transported to the neighbouring country through the National Natural Gas Transmission System.
The decrease in domestic consumption resulted in a (proportionately) smaller decrease in the amount of natural gas imported into the country from the LNG Terminal in Revithoussa, which amounted to 47.75 per cent of the total imports, registering a decrease of 13.69 per cent compared to the first nine months of 2022. In particular, approximately 24.04 TWh of LNG were unloaded by 34 LNG carriers coming from 7 different countries, while for the same period in 2022 approximately 27,85 TWh of LNG were unloaded by 60 LNG carriers. Of these, 38.92 per cent came from the US reaching 9.36 TWh. Russia ranked second with imports of 6.27 TWh, followed by Egypt (3.02 TWh), Algeria (2.97 TWh), Norway (0.97 TWh), Nigeria (0.94 TWh) and Spain (0.51 TWh).
In terms of natural gas consumer categories, power producers continue to record the highest consumption, meeting 69.39 per cent of domestic demand with 26.42 TWh out of a total of 38.07 TWh consumed.
