GAZPROM CHAIR IN GREECE: PUTTING RUSSIAN GAS IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 000342

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2016
TAGS: ENRG GR GAZPROM NATGAS
SUBJECT: GAZPROM CHAIR IN GREECE: PUTTING RUSSIAN GAS IN
TURKEY-GREECE-ITALY INTERCONNECTOR


Classified By: DCM Tom Countryman for Reasons 1.4 (B,D)


1. (C) Economic Counselor discussed the February 2 visit of
Gazprom Chairman Alexei Miller to Greece with Minister of
Development Sioufas' Diplomatic Advisor, Teresa Angelatou.
She said that Miller's top objective was to send the message
that "Russia wants to avoid another Ukraine." Miller was
upfront with the Greeks that Gazprom is looking for an
alternative route to get its natural gas to Europe other than
Germany and would like to put Bluestream gas into the
Turkey-Greece-Italy interconnector. Angelatou said pricing
of Russian gas had not been discussed "because that is not a
governmental issue; DEPA (Greece's natural gas company) and
Italy Edison must hold those discussions."


2. (C) In response to the comment that Miller's goal did not
seem consistent with Greece's stated intention of having the
interconnector help diversify gas supplies to Europe,
Angelatou responded that Greece could not, of course, decide
by itself on Russian gas in the interconnector; that would
require a four-way agreement between all concerned parties.
Regarding progress on a supply agreement for Azeri gas,
Angelatou was not enthusiastic, saying the Azeris were "not
ready to get into the game," while admitting that Greece and
Azerbaijan have not held "serious discussions." She said any
supply agreement is complicated and must be agreed upon by
the supplier(s) and the three downstream countries. The
first step for Greece in considering Miller's idea of sending
Russian gas through TGI interconnector is the establishment
of a Greek committee to discuss the idea. Turkey would then
have to agree to increase the flow of Bluestream gas through
its grid. Italy and the EU would then have to agree to this
as well.


3. (C) Angelatou said Sioufas and Miller also discussed the
extension of the 1987 agreement to supply Russian gas through
the Bulgarian pipeline (Note: the source of the vast majority
of natural gas in Greece),saying this would probably happen,
although the key element of such an agreement would be
between DEPA and Gazprom. She did not know if Miller met
with DEPA while in Athens, but said the DEPA CEO was present
at the Miller-Sioufas meeting.


4. (C) Angelatou claimed to have no information on the
equity stake Russia wants to take in B-A, saying that the
concerned companies are still working out their positions
bilaterally and need to draft their "conclusions" as a group
and submit these to the Greek, Bulgarian, and Russian
governments. The GoG "cannot intervene in what the companies
are trying to do, but just push hard for the quick movement."
She noted that, "since Gazprom is interested in getting into
oil, it is now very interested in B-A." She noted, as had
Sioufas in a January 25 meeting with the Ambassador, the GoG
interest in U.S. company participation in B-A. In this
regard, she noted that a mid-level Chevron rep stationed in
Turkey had visited Greece last June with a TNK-BP
representative. The Chevron representative had seemed
potentially interested in B-A, but she had not heard anything
from him since.


5. (SBU) Angelatou said Minister Sioufas wants to invite
both Energy Secretary Bodman and A/S Fried to visit Greece on
energy issues. He was now deciding whether to issue a joint
invitation or separate invites.

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Comment
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6. (C) Angelatou's readout strongly suggests there is a
Russian strategy vis-a-vis the TGI interconnector: fill it
with Russian gas in order to turn what could be a potential
alternative to Gazprom into merely another outlet for its
product.
RIES