Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his Bulgarian counterpart Kiril Petkov pose for a picture during the inauguration ceremony of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) gas pipeline that will carry gas from Greece’s Komotini to Stara Zagora in Bulgaria
THESSALONIKI (Greece), Sept 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that Greece has taken action to secure sufficient energy supplies over the winter in the event of Russian gas flows to the country being disrupted.
“We are ready for the worst possible scenario which is Russia halting natural gas flows,” Mitsotakis told a news conference in the northern city of Thessaloniki.
“I want to absolutely assure citizens that we have done everything necessary for the difficult oncoming winter as regards the supply of natural gas, and LNG,” said Mitsotakis.
Mitsotakis stated that Greece is in a good position to support its citizens because the economy is performing well and is based on strong foundations with an outward looking model and domestic investments.
He said Greece had lined up sufficient cargoes of liquefied natural gas, several power plants were ready to switch to oil from gas, and coal-fired capacity had been ramped up.
The prime minister also stressed that the return to energy production using lignite is a temporary measure that will only be in effect for one or two years, while natural gas prices remain high.
Mitsotakis also disputed claims that Greece has the highest energy prices in the EU, comparing the average energy costs of Athens to Madrid. — NNN-AGENCIES
