Since early 2022, we have been experiencing a series of successive energy crises, which are directly linked to Europe’s dependence on fossil gas. Since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, gas prices have soared, and energy has emerged as a matter of critical importance and geopolitical risk. The gas price crisis has also affected electricity prices, highlighting the European electricity market’s dependence on fossil gas and leading to a sharp rise in electricity prices as well.
In response to these developments, the EU decided to strengthen its targets for reducing gas consumption and diversifying energy sources. The REPowerEU plan to address the energy crisis was officially launched in May 2022, setting successive targets for reducing fossil gas consumption for all member states in 2023 and the following years through 2025.
On May 6, 2025, the European Commission announced its plan to fully ban imports of Russian fossil gas until 2027 (pipeline and LNG). The goal of the RePowerEU Roadmap, is to ban, by the end of 2025, Russian gas imports under new contracts and existing spot contracts, and then, by the end of 2027, to ban imports under long-term contacts. In addition, by the end of 2025, EU member states are requested to submit national plans for the phase out of Russian gas.
The latest geopolitical developments and the new armed conflict in the Middle East have brought additional uncertainty and economic repercussions that became apparent very quickly. It is notable that just two days after the start of the bombings in Iran, fossil gas prices skyrocketed by 70%.
It is therefore of particular importance to understand the relevant trends in gas consumption, the breakdown of final end-uses, and the trends in the distribution of import sources.
For this reason, for each month and cumulatively for the period of interest, we present here analyses based on publicly available data from DESFA (the national fossil gas system operator) and Eurostat. Starting from August 2022, these analyses focus on:
(a) monitoring Greece’s performance with respect to the consumption reduction targets agreed at the EU level;
(b) tracking trends in both total consumption and end-uses of gas (power generation, industry, distribution networks) in Greece;
(c) recording the developments in gas imports from Russia through the Turkstream pipeline (Sidirokastro gateway) and the other gateways of the country (Agia Triada, Amfitriti, Kipoi, Nea Mesimvria); and,
(d) comparing Greece with the other EU member states in terms of key indicators such as total consumption and dependence on fossil gas imports.
