Russia’s Gazprom may buy Greek gas monopoly stakes

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russian gas giant Gazprom may participate in a tender to buy stakes in Greece's DEPA gas monopoly to provide direct supplies to European consumers, Gazprom said on Friday, March 16, RIA Novosti reported.

The Greek government planned to sell 55 percent of DEPA and 31 percent of its transport branch DESFA in the fourth quarter of 2011 but privatization slowed down due to provisions of the EU Third Energy Package, which requires the separation of energy production, transportation and sales.

The bids for the tender must be received by March 22, 2012.

Nomos-Bank analyst Denis Borisov said in late February that the two Greek companies might cost from $1.5 billion to $2 billion, but the price was likely to be lower taking into account the current debt problems of the country.

Gazprom exported 2.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Greece in 2011.

Borisov also said that another reason for Gazprom to buy the gas firms was Greece's participation in the South Stream gas pipeline project intended to carry Russian natural gas to Europe, bypassing transit countries such as Ukraine and Belarus.