Greek Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas attended a regional ministerial forum on energy security, diversification, and green transition in Sofia on Thursday.
"We are tripling Greece's LNG storage capacity, we are doubling the electricity and gas transmission interconnections, and we maximize the incorporation of RES," Skrekas pointed out in statements to reporters.
The Greek minister also noted that the forum discussed founding the first regional working group as part of the EU's Energy Purchase Platform and presented the Greek government's comprehensive plan for ensuring an adequate supply of natural gas against a potential stop by Russia. The plan includes the addition of a new floating tank at the LNG station in Revithoussa, the completion of the liquefied natural gas gasification unit in Alexandroupolis by the end of 2023, and the start of the commercial operation of the IGB Greece-Bulgaria pipeline this coming summer.
Skrekas also announced that DEPA Commercial SA and Bulgargaz agreed to carry out joint natural gas purchases, and he also referred to the establishment of a Greece - Bulgaria task force to monitor and coordinate actions in the energy sector. He also announced the acceleration of the construction of Greece's second electricity interconnection with Bulgaria.
In addition, he presented the online gas trading platform by Hellenic Energy Exchange (HEnEx), which he called an important step for the unification of energy markets, the enhancing of transactions' transparency, and the offsetting of risks from price volatility.
The forum was hosted by Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, Finance Minister Assen Vassilev and Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov.
It was attended by Romanian Energy Minister Virgil Daniel Popescu, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Mining and Energy Minister Zorana Mihajlovic, North Macedonia Economy Minister Kreshnik Bekteshi, Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko, and Turkish Energy & Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar.
The head of the Directorate-General for Energy with the European Commission, Ditte Juul Jorgensen, also attended.