"Greece Oil & Gas Report Q3 2013" Published

Energy policy is still one of the main themes on the agenda in terms of the Greek coalition government's political priorities, in view of growing awareness of the importance of possible prospective resources, although energy privatisation is a greater immediate concern. Fourteen expressions of interests were registered with TAIPED, the Greek privatization agency, when the tender Invitation was announced in February 2012 for the state gas industry (DEPA/DESFA), but only five non-binding bids were submitted by the November deadline. The privatisation process had not, at the time of writing (May 2013), yet come to an end. The final bidding submissions are to be received by June 7 2013. Russian energy firm Sintez and Azerbaijan's state gas firm SOCAR are expected to bid for DEPA's gas grid subsidiary DESFA, while at the moment it is very likely that Gazprom will be acquiring DEPA. Tenders to acquire control of Hellenic Petroleum were to be submitted in Q113, and the final selection is scheduled to be announced in Q413. Meanwhile, demand trends will be dependent on a sustained economic recovery.

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The key trends and developments in the Greek oil and gas sector are:

* One of the main issues in the country's privatisation agenda over the past 12 months is the sale of DEPA/ DESFA. The privatisation of state-controlled betting monopoly OPAP for EUR712mn in May 2013 improves the outlook for further privatisation plans, such as those of DEPA/DESFA and DEI.
* Greece had hoped to attract binding bids for state-controlled natural gas supplier Dimosia Epichirisi Paroxis Aeriou (DEPA) and network distributer DESFA by the end of September 2012. By early 2013, the sale process had only received binding tender offers, which were originally scheduled for late December 2012. The selection announcement has been delayed yet again to June 2013, although there are strong signs that this will be the final delay, with the Greek government close to a deal.
* In May 2013, it was announced that the final contender for DESFA is Socar - which had originally placed a bid of EUR450mn - with Gazprom the sole bidder for DEPA. However, there is speculation that Sintez may acquire both DEPA and DESFA if the European Commission does not allow the deal with Gazprom to go ahead - the company is said to have placed a bid of EUR1.8bn for both companies.
* Hellenic Hydrocarbon Resources Management (HHRM), the new upstream government monitoring and management agency instituted under provisions of the new O&G law #4001 of August 2011, is at the final stages of its formation. However, due to the delays brought about by recent back-to-back elections, a BOD has not yet been appointed and thus HHRM is not yet operational.
* Statutory upstream referring and monitoring responsibilities that formerly resided with ELPE were formerly transferred by the government (Ministry of Energy and Climate Change - YPEKA) to HHRM in early November.

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