Ukraine war speeds Greece?s transition to EU energy gateway

Greece has never been responsible for securing another country’s energy security,” said Michalis Mathioulakis, who heads the Greek Energy Forum, a think-tank.What gives the IGB strategic importance, however, is that it could soon become the means for supplanting Russian gas throughout the Balkans with liquefied natural gas from the US, Qatar, Egypt and elsewhere.On January 31, a consortium of Greek, Cypriot, Bulgarian and Italian companies announced that they will build a floating terminal to import LNG offshore Alexandroupolis, in northern Greece.This floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), which will re-vaporise liquefied gas, will connect to the IGB pipeline and start supplying it at the end of next year.“I firmly believe that we are witnessing a new dawn in Europe’s energy independence,” said European Council president Charles Michel, at a ceremony to highlight the FSRU in Alexandroupolis on May 3.Interest in the project has extended beyond Bulgaria.North Macedonia, whose prime minister was also in attendance, was reportedly interested in becoming a shareholder in the FSRU.With Russian gas supply now embroiled in the politics of its war in Ukraine, even Russia-friendly Serbia is intrigued.Its president, Aleksandar Vucic, told the May 3 gathering of regional leaders, “I was one of the sceptics who always said, ‘It won’t happen’ … Now that we see it’s ready to start, I can say we are truly grateful and we are prepared to receive relatively large quantities of gas.”Mathioulakis told Al Jazeera, “[Southeast Europe] will depend more and more on gas that comes from Greece, so its geopolitical footprint in the Balkans increases.”Greece is becoming a gateway for LNG because it is surrounded by sea.It has the only LNG import terminal in the Balkans as far north as Croatia, but its capacity can barely cover Greek demand at the moment.But demand for non-Russian gas in the region has been rising so fast that the consortium building the Alexandroupolis FSRU, Gastrade, applied for, and received, a licence for a second FSRU.The Ukraine war was the key catalyst both for higher demand and for higher prices.Motor Oil Hellas, a refinery near Korinth in southern Greece, has been considering its own FSRU.