Greek gas consumption jumps by 30% in 2024 on power sector demand: DESFA

Greek gas consumption in 2024 jumped 30% as demand from the power sector rose sharply, data from gas grid operator DESFA showed.

Greek gas consumption rose to 66.2 TWh (6.3 Bcm) in 2024 compared with 50.9 TWh in 2023, the data showed.

DESFA said gas consumption in the power sector rose 32% year over year, covering 68.7% of domestic demand.

Residential and small business consumption accounted for 17.7% of demand, while industry and CNG filling stations represented 13.6% of the total.

According to the DESFA data, gas re-exports fell 83% to 2.91 TWh.

However, despite the year-over-year decline, exports saw a "significant" surge in the fourth quarter of 2024, DESFA said, increasing from 0.66 TWh in the first nine months of 2024 to 2.91 TWh for the full year.

"This late-year recovery was primarily driven by the commencement of commercial operations at the Alexandroupolis FSRU and the integration of the ICGB pipeline with the national gas system at Komotini," it said.

Greece had been a regular supplier of re-exported gas to Bulgaria -- primarily via its Revithoussa LNG import terminal -- but in 2024 Bulgaria relied more on gas supplies from Turkey.

But Greece's second terminal -- the 5.5 Bcm/year floating facility at Alexandroupolis -- began commercial operations on Oct. 1, with Bulgaria's Bulgargaz among the capacity holders at the facility.

From Alexandroupolis, regasified LNG can reach Bulgaria via the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector.

Greece has said it wants to become a regional gas hub given its increased interconnectivity, access to global LNG supplies and a new gas trading platform that launched in March 2022.

Gas imports

Greece, meanwhile, remains a major gas importer, with some 69.4 TWh delivered in 2024, a 2.5 year-over-year increase.

The largest share of imports entered the Greek grid at Sidirokastro, accounting for 51.6% of total imports (35.8 TWh). Sidirokastro is the entry point for gas delivered via Bulgaria, including gas sent from Russia via the TurkStream pipeline.

Greece continues to import Russian pipeline gas despite EU efforts to diversify away from Russian gas.

Among the remaining entry points, the Revithoussa LNG terminal accounted for 26.4% of total imports, followed by deliveries from Azerbaijan via the TAP pipeline (18.1%)

The Alexandroupolis terminal accounted for 3.9% of total imports, the DESFA data showed.

The Revithoussa terminal saw 27 tankers offload LNG in 2024, down from 41 cargoes in 2023.

The US remained the leading supplier, delivering 13.89 TWh of gas in 19 LNG cargoes. Russia was second with 2.86 TWh of LNG equivalent supplied, followed by Algeria (1.46 TWh) and Norway (0.98 TWh).