ATHENS, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Balkan and eastern European countries have shown increasing interest in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Greece's northern city of Alexandroupolis, said a project manager on Friday.
The construction of the LNG floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) terminal in Alexandroupolis started this May and is expected to be operational by early 2024.
The project is already backed by neighboring Bulgaria and North Macedonia, and recently Serbia, Romania, Hungary, Ukraine and Moldova have also expressed their interest, said Kostis Sifnaios, Managing Director of Gastrade, the Athens-based managing company in charge of the project.
Partially funded by the EU, the 406-million-euro (about 410-million-U.S.-dollar) project is seen as an investment that could help Europe diversify its gas imports, he noted.
The offshore terminal, which will be connected to Greece's national natural gas transmission system with a 28-km pipeline, will have an annual capacity of 5.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year. A second smaller FSRU could further expand its capacity in coming years, he said.
Sifnaios said until the project becomes operational, Greece can cover its domestic needs via the Revithoussa LNG terminal near Athens, which currently receives LNG from the United States, Egypt, Algeria and other countries.
Greece is in a better position to face energy challenges in the coming winter, Sifnaios said. ( 1 euro = 1.01 U.S. dollars)
