Greece’s Demand for Natural Gas Has Shot Up in 2024

SEATTLE (Oil Monster): According to the Natural Gas System Operator of Greece (DESFA), domestic gas consumption increased significantly by 30.03 per cent in 2024, rising from 50.91 terawatt-hours (TWh) in the previous year to 66.2 in 2024.

The increase was mainly due to the growing gas demand for electricity generation, which accounted for the largest share of domestic consumption (68.65 per cent), rising by 31.59 per cent. Residential consumers and businesses accounted for 17.71 per cent of demand, up by 4.83 per cent.

Industries’ and CNG filling stations’ consumption directly connected to the high-pressure system increased the most, by 74.34 per cent, and now accounts for 13.62 per cent of domestic usage.

 However, total natural gas demand, including exports, increased by only 2.23 per cent to 69.11 TWh, due to a significant drop in exports of 82.56 per cent (from 16.69 to 2.91 TWh). Despite this overall decline, exports showed a visible surge in the last quarter of 2024, rising from 0.66 TWh in the first nine months. This was facilitated by the start of the Alexandroupolis LNG terminal’s operations, which was connected to the Greece-Bulgaria gas pipeline (ICGB).

Total imports increased by 2.45 per cent (from 67.71 to 69.37 TWh). More than half of this volume came via the entry point at Sidirokastro, while the Revithoussa terminal accounted for 26.43 per cent and the Nea Mesimvria entry point, connected to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), for 18.07 per cent.

Regarding LNG, last year, 27 tankers docked at the Revithoussa terminal, unloading a total of 18.69 TWh. This represents a significant decrease compared to the 41 tankers and 28.52 TWh in 2023. The leading supplier remained the United States (71.64 per cent), which increased its LNG volumes from 17 to 19 tankers and from 10.75 to 13.89 TWh.

In second place is Russia, with 15.3 per cent (2.86 TWh), marking a significant decrease of 65.87 per cent compared to the previous year. Algeria ranks third, contributing 1.46 TWh (7.81 per cent), while Norway supplied 0.98 TWh (5.24 per cent).

 Courtesy: www.ceenergynews.com