SOCAR close to buy Greek gas operator

The Azeri state energy company Socar said it has started talks with the Greek government on purchasing the country’s natural gas grid operator DESFA, the asset of the national gas firm DEPA, after being the only bidder in a failed tender for the asset sale.

“The tender procedure on the privatization of DESFA is over and Socar has started talks with the Greek government,” Socar president Rovnag Abdullayev told reporters on June 15.

“It means that the whole natural gas distribution system of Greece will be in our hands soon.”

Abdullayev said a purchase of Greek assets would “strengthen the export potential of Socar.”

Socar wants to increase the level of its gas distribution in Greece, from 17 percent at present, and deliver gas from the major Shah Deniz field off Azerbaijan to the European country.

The contestants were to submit binding offers to purchase Greece’s gas transportation system operator DESFA on June 10, but only Socar of five participants submitted an offer.

Greece actually failed to attract any binding bids for its natural gas firm DEPA earlier this month, meaning a key sale to meet the country’s privatization targets under its international bailout had floundered.


/HurriyetDailynews.Com/