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. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶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