It’s Friday, which means it’s time for our top five stories from the past seven days!
Are the EU’s energy troubles over?
Continuing with our assessment of the EU’s energy policy since February 2024, we take a look at a report from the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Centre which highlighted the need for policymakers to introduce a “concrete long-term road map” for the role of natural gas in the EU. Without setting long-term commitments to the bloc’s LNG suppliers, the EU may be in for an even greater crisis next winter. Read the full article here.
Hungary’s energy diversification continues amid high transit fees
Looking at the regional internal oil market, Croatia’s oil pipeline operator, Janaf, signed a transport agreement with the Hungarian oil and gas company, MOL, for shipments of 500,000 tonnes of crude oil via the Adriatic pipeline. The announcement comes amid Croatia’s plan to more than double the transit fee of the Adriatic pipeline, which drew criticism from the Hungarian government – calling it “an abuse of Croatia’s monopoly”. Read the full article here.
Croatia notes major progress in underground geothermal projects
As Croatia grows a larger customer base via the Adriatic oil pipeline, the country is also taking major steps towards accelerating its emerging geothermal industry. The Croatian Hydrocarbons Agency recently published a tender for the exploration of geothermal waters in the Drava Basin for energy purposes in six research areas. Read the full article here.
Over 4.8 mln MWh transported via the Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector in 2022
Shifting the focus to gas trade in southeastern Europe, 4.875 million megawatt-hours (MWh) were transported through the Greece-Bulgaria gas pipeline from 1 October to 31 December, with 11 registered users of the interconnector by the end of 2022. Read the full article here.
Are Bulgaria and Greece ready to continue their growing energy trade relationship?
It looks like the above data on give trade via the Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector may have sparked an appetite for even stronger ties as the governments of Greece and Bulgaria approved two Memorandums of Understanding on increasing bilateral cooperation in natural gas storage and crude oil imports. Interestingly, one of the documents sets plans for both sides to examine the possibility of building an oil pipeline from the Aegean port of Alexandroupolis to Burgas on the Black Sea. Read the full article here.