Russian gas imports via pipeline and gas consumption in Greece have surpassed pre-energy crisis levels in 2024.
According to The Green Tank’s data for the first eight months of 2024, which is mentioned in a report by George Fintikakis for Euro2day.gr (12/9/2024), Russian gas imports via Turkstream in August reached 3.64 TWh and are the second highest historically in Greece, after the previous month, July (3.66 TWh).
At the same time, all months of 2024 have seen an increase in gas usage compared to the corresponding months of the previous year. Overall, in the first eight months of 2024 the increase in gas is 27%.
A key reason behind this is the increased use of gas in electricity production compared to 2023, as The Green Tank data analyst Ioanna Souka pointed out in an interview with journalist Korina Georgiou for the “Euranet” show of SKAI 100.3 radio (15/9/2024).
This increase is due electricity producers in Greece attempting to exploit the regional price crisis. Thus, a chain reaction is caused: the shortages in energy supply that have arisen for various reasons in South-Eastern European countries have led to a rise in prices in the region. Greek gas-fired power plants have consumed more gas from the cheapest source (Russia) in order to meet the increased demand in neighboring countries, making large profits in the process, but also driving up prices in the Greek wholesale electricity market. Part of these increases are also passed on to the retail market, despite the small return to consumers from the retention of a small part of the excess profits of the gas-fired power companies.
Thus, Greece ends up going in the opposite direction to Europe: despite its good performance during the energy crisis, Greece is now lagging behind the voluntary gas consumption reduction target – and has even increased consumption so far in 2024, instead of reducing it.
You can read the article “Greece’s absolute dependence on Russian gas” on Euro2day by clicking here. Listen to Ioanna Souka’s interview with “Euranet” on our YouTube channel. Both are in Greek.
