Greece: Deadline for South Kavala underground gas storage likely to be extended

A tender for the almost depleted natural gas field South Kavala in north Aegean Sea, being offered for development and operation of a underground natural gas storage facility over a 50-year period, could end with no binding offers received.
The tender’s deadline, which was already extended by additional four months, will expire at the end of the week, with no binding offers from second round qualifiers in sight. Since Greek authorities consider the project vital for the country’s energy sector, it is likely that we are facing another deadline extension, again for a few months, which should give the tender’s two final-round qualifiers, Energean and a consortium of gas transmission system operator DESFA and construction company GEK Terna, more time to evaluate the terms and conditions.
The tender was launched in June 2020, and its second-round deadline passed at the end of November last year. At the time, the two second round qualifiers cited financial unviability due to pricing regulations as the main reason for not submitting binding bids.
Natural gas field South Kavala is located in the southwestern part of the Prinos-Kavala basin, in 52 meters of water depth in the North Aegean Sea, about 6 kilometers off the west coast of Thassos. The duration of the concession agreement will be up to 50 years. The conversion of the natural gas field South Kavala into an underground gas storage will be carried out by the concessionaire within a binding period to be determined in the concession agreement.