DESFA

The Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was forced to cancel his scheduled trip to the Azerbaijani capital of Baku due to a fault with the aircraft’s flaps. Mr. Samaras and his associates were on stand-by, however it was not possible to carry out the necessary repairs in time, so the trip was cancelled. Mr. Samaras was […]

The Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is expected to be in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku on Tuesday, to sign the final investment agreement that will supply the TAP with natural gas from the Shah Deniz II gas field. Mr. Samaras’ presence, amidst critical troika negotiations, reflects the importance of the upcoming Southern Corridor (which includes […]

The Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov will arrive in Athens on Tuesday evening ahead of the European Commissioner for energy Günther Oettinger, who have been invited to discuss a number of matters related to energy. Mr. Lavrov, who will also be present at the celebrations for 185 years since the appointment of Ioannis […]

The emergency General Meeting of Hellenic Petroleum (ELPE)’s board announced that it has approved the transfer of the company’s 35% shareholder stake in the National Natural Gas System Operator (DESFA) to the Azeri SOCAR. The unanimous decision approved the transfer of the 35% stake in DESFA to SOCAR, or a legal representative of the SOCAR […]

Opposition leaders SYRIZA have issued slammed the upcoming privatization and sale of DESFA, the natural gas transmission system operator, to the Azeri firm SOCAR. The opposition party is also skeptical about the government’s reluctance to provide any explanations regarding the one month delay from the announcement of the deal with SOCAR to the completion of […]

TAIPED’s board of directors have unanimously accepted SOCAR’s new improved offer of 400 million euros for the purchase of 66% shares of DESFA. The privatization fund made an announcement expressing “great pleasure to accept SOCAR into the Greek market, as a very serious strategic partner, who will contribute decisively in our economy”. TAIPED will collect […]

The decision on the pipeline that will transport natural gas to Europe from the Shah Deniz field will be made on Wednesday and the final announcements expected to take place on Friday, at Baku. The Greek side is confident that the TransAdriatic Pipeline (TAP) will be chosen over the Nabucco West pipeline. This will allow […]

Azeri energy firm SOCAR and privatization fund TAIPED have come to a preliminary agreement on the sale of DESFA’s 66% share, according to SOCAR’s president Rovnag Ibrahim Abdullayev. Mr. Abdullayev commented on the preliminary deal on Reuters and explained that the competition has ended and that negotiations with the Greek government are about to begin. […]

According to sources from privatization fund TAIPED, a new offer has been made for DESFA by Socar. The Azeri natural gas firm appears to be have made an offer of 400 million euros. This new offer is said to be much higher than the original estimations of the independent valuator. The 66% share of State […]

The government-appointed fund in charge of privatizations (TAIPED) will present a new plan of privatizations to the troika representatives, in light of the recent failure to sell DEPA, the insecurity around DESFA and the possibility of problems arising in the recent OPAP sale. According to “Ta Nea”, the new plans include the privatization of OLP […]

A number of unfortunate developments have jeopardized the privatization of DEPA and DESFA at the very last moment. Russian firm Sintez was meant to submit a binding offer for DESFA, but instead informed TAIPED that it will not. Gazprom also appears to be somewhat vague about its DEPA offer. Gazprom has associated the price for […]

The binding offers for the purchase of DEPA and DESFA are to be submitted today. So far Gazprom appears to be the likeliest candidate, amidst diplomatic conflicts between the European Commission, Moscow and Washington. While Gazprom does not appear to have any real competition regarding DEPA, the offers for DESFA by Gazprom’s Russian competitor Sintez […]