Ομιλία του N. Battilana, Ανώτατου Εκτελεστικού Διευθυντή του ΔΕΣΦΑ
Ο Ανώτατος Εκτελεστικός Διευθυντής του ΔΕΣΦΑ, κ. Nicola Battilana σε τοποθέτηση του στο Athens Investment Forum ανέφερε ότι σύμφωνα με την εκτίμηση του διαχειριστή η απόφαση για απόσυρση του λιγνίτη αλλάζει τα σενάρια για την εκτίμηση της ζήτησης από τα 6 δισ. κυβικά μέτρα με πιθανότητα πρόσθετης ανάγκης επιπλέον 1 δισ. κ.μ., στα 8 δις. κ.μ.
«Ο ΔΕΣΦΑ πρέπει να προετοιμάσει τις αναγκαίες επενδύσεις ώστε να εκμεταλλευτεί την ευκαιρία που δημιουργείται». Ο ίδιος αναφέρθηκε στα έργα ανάπτυξης του δικτύου που υλοποιεί ο ΔΕΣΦΑ, όπως η εγκατάσταση συμπιεστή στους Κήπους που θα έχει δυνατότητα reverse flow, αλλά και στα έργα ψηφιοποίησης.
Πρόσθετα σημείωσε ότι το small scale LNG δεν αφορά μόνο το ΔΕΣΦΑ αλλά όλη την αγορά εκτιμώντας ότι ο ευρωπαϊκός νότος έχει πλεονέκτημα σε σχέση με το βορά, την προοπτική αξιοποίησης του LNG στη ναυτιλία ως εναλλακτική των καυσίμων χαμηλού θείου.
Ο κ. Batillana αναφέρθηκε επίσης στις εργασίες αναβάθμισης της Ρεβυθούσας που έχουν αυξήσει τον όγκο των πλοίων που φτάνουν στον τερματικό και χαρακτήρισε τον σταθμό ως ζωτικό asset για την ελληνική αγορά.
Ομιλία N. Battilana
Thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman.
I’ll close with a speech in English. I’m very sorry but my Greek is not progressing so much that I can deal with all presentation in Greek.
So, I will speak about investment, our investment, the network in the energy sector, gas. It’s an interesting moment to be in Greece in our business: de-carbonization, phase out, transition fuel, diesel. All positive elements for the development of the network.
I also believe that the increase of the interconnections between Greece and northern neighboring countries in the electricity sector as well it’s an interesting opportunity also for gas. Because I believe that gas, and I’m not the only one, gas can be seen as a reliable backbone for the production from renewables.
So, we all hope that we will find a lot of gas in Greece, so we might become also a gas hub. If it doesn’t happen, maybe we can become an electricity hub exploiting the use potential of electricity and we need to remember that gas can be sustainable and reliable ally in this picture.
Let’s not forget that the sector coupling between electricity and gas is one of the priority of the new European Commission of the DG energy and soon they will delivering that. So they will be also obligations for the two main transmission operator to the electricity and the gas transmission operator to produce joint ten yeas development plan. This is already happening in Italy, for example.
But I will go through my short presentation. So, regarding the gas we are going to present, to send it to National Regulatory Authority our ten years development plan. It was in public consultation this summer.
The assumption at that time when we started to work on the new plan was that we might reach under prudent conservative assumption 6 bcm by the end of the period of ten years. And we might have had an additional 1bcm for the new development in the ship being in the CNG and biogas production as well.
But then the new government, and we are very happy to hear that, changed the framework regarding the lignite. So we might have a full phase out by the end of the period from lignite. This could have an additional bcm, to be very conservative, to draw a picture.
So, at the end of the ten year we might have 8 BCM of consumption of gas in Greece. And this is extremely interesting for us but is also a must in view some reflections on how we are prepare to develop a necessary investment that are necessary in order to exploit these opportunities.
Regarding the position of Greece, we can see that we already have a connection with Bulgaria through Siderokastro. And this connection has already started to be used as a net import to Bulgaria this summer. We expect half bcm of natural gas to be delivered to Bulgaria by the end of the year. This is happening now because of Revithousa.
Then we have the other project of Alexandroupoli. We have the TAP that it will be completed by the end of next year. The position of Revithousa which is excellent for the launch and the development of the market for the LNG, especially in the shipping.
So the position of Greece in this regard hasn’t changed. It’s still at the core of this area. What DESFA is doing in order to develop the network and to be ready to support the demand of gas for the future?
We have one additional compressor station in the core of Greece in Ampelia. We are planning to have a third compressor unit in the Nea Mesimvria compressor station, not far from Thessaloniki.
We are designing in an early phase a new compressor station in Kipi and we are also designing a new compressor station always in Nea Mesimvria to enable the reverse flow of gas from DESFA to the TAP infrastructure. Because there is a significant deference in the pressures of these two pipelines.
We had an investment in all the connections and all the other projects that we have. What we do not see on the map is the investment that we are starting now in the IT infrastructure, because IT it’s extremely important for us.
We cannot believe that we could face such an increasing demand and the challenges of the new interconnected world without a strong reliable and significantly advanced IT infrastructure. IT is crucial for the energy market, the wholesale trade market, the relationship with shippers, being able to renominate through the day each position in order not only not to lose money, but to exploit and to make money exploiting situations of our own portfolio.
I believe that DESFA, among the other stakeholder, has the obligation to give the market this opportunity and this is why also we are in ENEX and this is why we are starting to think now to our IT architecture in order to win this competition among ourselves basically.
And there is more scale. This is something that I think it’s really important not only for us but for the whole sector. We have a huge potential here in Greece, in the Mediterranean in general, and I think in south of Europe we are in delay, with respect to the northern Europe.
There is the possibility there is a convenience to start thinking about LNG in the shipping industry as an alternative to low sulfur fuels. It will not be the new diesel, I don’t believe that, but there is a significant growth potential in this regard.
Many different applications, many different ships can benefit of LNG. Cruise ships for sure because they will have commercial advantages but also environmental advantages because, for example, they can free the last deck of the ship.
With NAFTA it is very difficult to be on top of the ship and to enjoy the travel. Usually you get sick. With LNG this doesn’t happen and the ship owners already understood that. Most of the ships, the new cruise ships that are under construction will be using LNG or at least dual fuel.
The ferries as well. Piraeus is a hub of ferries because of the framework of the environment of Greece. So many islands, so many connections. This is an opportunity for Piraeus, this is an opportunity for us. We are working together with DEPA in order to develop, we are maturing now the Poseidon Project, it has entered finally into the basic design phase and I believe this will be also an opportunity.
What we have to do as DESFA in order to originate the demand because nobody will take a final investment decision without the certainty of being able to supply the ship in Greece. And the solution is to have a small scale jetty in Revithousa.
We are now in the basic design phase. I really hope that we will be able to take a final decision probably by the end of the year, possibly in the first months of the next year. This will allow to have a small ship for bunkering, refueling, loading LNG in Revithousa.
And as well track loading facility. We are now trying to understand what is the best option to bring the tracks to the island. It will not flood LNG to the whole Balkan region because it’s an island, you have to bring the trucks in the island, But for sure it will be enough to cover the next ten years of demand, I’m pretty sure about that.
Coming to Revithousa, after the completion of the third terminal, I think the music has completely changed in better. Now the terminal is going to receive by the end of the year 52 ships, many of them are coming from the US, Qatar, Norway, Algeria of course, Nigeria.
So really the use of Revithousa has boosted. It’s not alone. All the terminals in the Mediterranean area have boosted because of the extremely low prices of LNG. It is difficult to foresee whether these prices will remain as low in the future as they are now or they will increase and we have to look LNG is becoming a worldwide commodity.
So they are many factors to be taken into consideration but I believe that the trend has been consolidated and we will have this trend for quite a few years in place. Maybe with slight variations.
So Revithousa is, in our opinion, an asset that is vital to the Greek market. I understand and we all know that the volume is an issue and we are working in order to try to solve that issue with the help of the regulator and I really hope that maybe next edition of this forum we will present a completely deferent and much better situation on our side.
Thank you.
I’ll close with a speech in English. I’m very sorry but my Greek is not progressing so much that I can deal with all presentation in Greek.
So, I will speak about investment, our investment, the network in the energy sector, gas. It’s an interesting moment to be in Greece in our business: de-carbonization, phase out, transition fuel, diesel. All positive elements for the development of the network.
I also believe that the increase of the interconnections between Greece and northern neighboring countries in the electricity sector as well it’s an interesting opportunity also for gas. Because I believe that gas, and I’m not the only one, gas can be seen as a reliable backbone for the production from renewables.
So, we all hope that we will find a lot of gas in Greece, so we might become also a gas hub. If it doesn’t happen, maybe we can become an electricity hub exploiting the use potential of electricity and we need to remember that gas can be sustainable and reliable ally in this picture.
Let’s not forget that the sector coupling between electricity and gas is one of the priority of the new European Commission of the DG energy and soon they will delivering that. So they will be also obligations for the two main transmission operator to the electricity and the gas transmission operator to produce joint ten yeas development plan. This is already happening in Italy, for example.
But I will go through my short presentation. So, regarding the gas we are going to present, to send it to National Regulatory Authority our ten years development plan. It was in public consultation this summer.
The assumption at that time when we started to work on the new plan was that we might reach under prudent conservative assumption 6 bcm by the end of the period of ten years. And we might have had an additional 1bcm for the new development in the ship being in the CNG and biogas production as well.
But then the new government, and we are very happy to hear that, changed the framework regarding the lignite. So we might have a full phase out by the end of the period from lignite. This could have an additional bcm, to be very conservative, to draw a picture.
So, at the end of the ten year we might have 8 BCM of consumption of gas in Greece. And this is extremely interesting for us but is also a must in view some reflections on how we are prepare to develop a necessary investment that are necessary in order to exploit these opportunities.
Regarding the position of Greece, we can see that we already have a connection with Bulgaria through Siderokastro. And this connection has already started to be used as a net import to Bulgaria this summer. We expect half bcm of natural gas to be delivered to Bulgaria by the end of the year. This is happening now because of Revithousa.
Then we have the other project of Alexandroupoli. We have the TAP that it will be completed by the end of next year. The position of Revithousa which is excellent for the launch and the development of the market for the LNG, especially in the shipping.
So the position of Greece in this regard hasn’t changed. It’s still at the core of this area. What DESFA is doing in order to develop the network and to be ready to support the demand of gas for the future?
We have one additional compressor station in the core of Greece in Ampelia. We are planning to have a third compressor unit in the Nea Mesimvria compressor station, not far from Thessaloniki.
We are designing in an early phase a new compressor station in Kipi and we are also designing a new compressor station always in Nea Mesimvria to enable the reverse flow of gas from DESFA to the TAP infrastructure. Because there is a significant deference in the pressures of these two pipelines.
We had an investment in all the connections and all the other projects that we have. What we do not see on the map is the investment that we are starting now in the IT infrastructure, because IT it’s extremely important for us.
We cannot believe that we could face such an increasing demand and the challenges of the new interconnected world without a strong reliable and significantly advanced IT infrastructure. IT is crucial for the energy market, the wholesale trade market, the relationship with shippers, being able to renominate through the day each position in order not only not to lose money, but to exploit and to make money exploiting situations of our own portfolio.
I believe that DESFA, among the other stakeholder, has the obligation to give the market this opportunity and this is why also we are in ENEX and this is why we are starting to think now to our IT architecture in order to win this competition among ourselves basically.
And there is more scale. This is something that I think it’s really important not only for us but for the whole sector. We have a huge potential here in Greece, in the Mediterranean in general, and I think in south of Europe we are in delay, with respect to the northern Europe.
There is the possibility there is a convenience to start thinking about LNG in the shipping industry as an alternative to low sulfur fuels. It will not be the new diesel, I don’t believe that, but there is a significant growth potential in this regard.
Many different applications, many different ships can benefit of LNG. Cruise ships for sure because they will have commercial advantages but also environmental advantages because, for example, they can free the last deck of the ship.
With NAFTA it is very difficult to be on top of the ship and to enjoy the travel. Usually you get sick. With LNG this doesn’t happen and the ship owners already understood that. Most of the ships, the new cruise ships that are under construction will be using LNG or at least dual fuel.
The ferries as well. Piraeus is a hub of ferries because of the framework of the environment of Greece. So many islands, so many connections. This is an opportunity for Piraeus, this is an opportunity for us. We are working together with DEPA in order to develop, we are maturing now the Poseidon Project, it has entered finally into the basic design phase and I believe this will be also an opportunity.
What we have to do as DESFA in order to originate the demand because nobody will take a final investment decision without the certainty of being able to supply the ship in Greece. And the solution is to have a small scale jetty in Revithousa.
We are now in the basic design phase. I really hope that we will be able to take a final decision probably by the end of the year, possibly in the first months of the next year. This will allow to have a small ship for bunkering, refueling, loading LNG in Revithousa.
And as well track loading facility. We are now trying to understand what is the best option to bring the tracks to the island. It will not flood LNG to the whole Balkan region because it’s an island, you have to bring the trucks in the island, But for sure it will be enough to cover the next ten years of demand, I’m pretty sure about that.
Coming to Revithousa, after the completion of the third terminal, I think the music has completely changed in better. Now the terminal is going to receive by the end of the year 52 ships, many of them are coming from the US, Qatar, Norway, Algeria of course, Nigeria.
So really the use of Revithousa has boosted. It’s not alone. All the terminals in the Mediterranean area have boosted because of the extremely low prices of LNG. It is difficult to foresee whether these prices will remain as low in the future as they are now or they will increase and we have to look LNG is becoming a worldwide commodity.
So they are many factors to be taken into consideration but I believe that the trend has been consolidated and we will have this trend for quite a few years in place. Maybe with slight variations.
So Revithousa is, in our opinion, an asset that is vital to the Greek market. I understand and we all know that the volume is an issue and we are working in order to try to solve that issue with the help of the regulator and I really hope that maybe next edition of this forum we will present a completely deferent and much better situation on our side.
Thank you.
Δείτε ΕΔΩ την παρουσίαση της ομιλίας
Δείτε εδώ το video της ομιλίας: