Pipeliners

11 April 2007 - Upstream OnLine - Gazprom boss Alexei Miller was in Athens today for talks about extending the Russian giant's long-term gas supply contract with Greece from its current expiry date in 2016 until 2040. Greece's Development Ministry estimates 80% of the country's gas supplies come from Gazprom, which is Russia's monopoly exporter. "We discussed extending the contract through to 2040," Greek Development Minister George Sioufas told Reuters after meeting Miller in Athens. "We agreed that negotiations will continue ... to sign an agreement." Gazprom supplied about 2.74 billion cubic metres of gas to Greece last year and expects demand from the electricity sector, industry and consumers to grow to 6.5 Bcm by 2010. Miller also met with Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and discussed opportunities for Gazprom presented by the liberalisation of Greece's energy market. "We have to extend the agreement to supply Greece with Russian gas through to 2040," Miller said in a statement. "We are sure that we will have reached an agreement in principle by the end of this year." Gazprom already supplies a quarter of Europe's gas and its share will rise in coming decades. It is keen to expand its reach by getting access to end users of gas and capturing more of the revenue from consumers. Earlier this year Russia signed a deal with Greece and Bulgaria to build theBurgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline between the Bulgarian port of Burgas on the Black Sea and Alexandroupolis on Greece's Aegean coast. The pipeline, which aims to bypass the congested Turkish straits, is 51% owned by three Russian state-controlled companies, one of which is Gazprom's oil subsidiary Gazprom Neft . Gazprom said Miller discussed the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline during his trip to Greece, but gave no further details.