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    Greece Signs First EastMed Letter of Intent

Summary

Largely symbolic, the buyer's and seller's agreement comes on the day of ministerial meetings.

by: William Powell

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Natural Gas & LNG News, Europe, Middle East, Premium, Corporate, Exploration & Production, Import/Export, Contracts and tenders, Political, Ministries, TSO, Infrastructure, Pipelines, East Med, News By Country, Greece, Israel

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Greece Signs First EastMed Letter of Intent

Eastern Mediterranean-focused gas producer Energean and the Greek Public Gas Corporation (Depa) have agreed to co-operate to further support the 10bn m³/yr EastMed Pipeline Project, a European project of common interest, Energean said January 2.

Ahead of the intergovernmental agreement on the EastMed Pipeline, to be signed by the energy ministers of Cyprus, Greece and Israel later January 2, the two companies have signed a letter of intent for the potential sale and purchase of 2bn m³/yr from Energean's gas fields offshore Israel. Energean is investing $1.7bn in the Karish and Tanin fields through the floating production, storage and offtake vessel Energean Power.

Depa is 50% shareholder in Greece Italy Interconnector Poseidon, partnered with French state-ownedf Edison. Additional details, including terms, delivery points, gas composition, the shipper of the EastMed pipeline etc. will also be agreed and detailed in a gas sale and purchase agreement.

Depa CEO Konstantinos Xifaras said that the agreement was the first to be signed for the commercial use of the EastMed pipeline and showed that Depa was "taking a decisive step for the project's commercial viability and its realisation."

Depa is steadily expanding its international trade activities and is developing, along with international partners, infrastructure projects that guarantee diversification of energy sources and security of supply in both Greece and Europe. By systematically strengthening its international role, he said, Depa is becoming a key player in the energy developments of the wider region.

Energean CEO Mathios Rigas said the agreement "is an important development in the context of the EastMed pipeline project, which now has not only the support of governments and the EU but is also attracting commercial interest from buyers and sellers of gas in the region. The EastMed pipeline provides Energean with another monetisation route for its strategy to fully utilise the Energean Power FPSO that has an 8bn m³/y capacity and further allows us to continue the exploration and development of our 9 licences offshore Israel."

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