economy

And this is because it not only reached the -15% target set by the European Union for the eight months of August 2022 – March 2023, but also achieved a historic eight-year low in the eight-month period and a five-year low in March.

Industry played a catalytic role in reducing consumption, followed by power generation and distribution networks.

According to the data of DESFA, analyzed by GreenTank, during the eight-month period Greece with a total consumption of 32.9 TWh showed a decrease of 31.8% in relation to the corresponding last year and by 20.9% in relation to the average of corresponding eight months of the previous five years.

In addition, all end uses show significant percentage decreases compared to the same eight-month period of the previous year. Industry leads the way (-44.6%), followed by power generation (-31.9%) and distribution networks (-28.2%). The percentage reductions in end uses are also in line with the five-year average, with industry, power generation and distribution networks showing reductions of 67.3%, 14.8% and 13.8%, respectively.

Plunge in March consumption

A 42.5% drop was recorded in the consumption of March this year compared to March 2022. As GreenTank notes in its report, this is the third largest month of decline compared to the same month of the previous year since the start of the war. after October (-50.1%) and April 2022 (-46.1%).

This completed 12 months in a row where a decrease was observed compared to the same month of the previous year (April 2022-

March 2023). In addition, cumulatively, in the first quarter of 2023, natural gas consumption decreased by 33.9% compared to the same period in 2022 and by 25.4% compared to the five-year average.

Regarding the distribution of gas consumption in end-uses, in the first quarter of 2023, the large reduction in the use of gas for power generation also reduced its share in end-uses to 56.1% (from 73.5% during 2022).

In contrast, distribution networks increased their share to 37.9% in the first quarter of 2023 (21.5% for the whole of 2022), while the share of industry remained very low at 6% (5% in 2022).

At 68.1% the share of LNG in imports

Based on the processing of data regarding imports from the country's four gateways, in March 2023, it appears that gas imports from Russia covering domestic consumption were only 0.28 TWh, down 87.3% compared to the same month of 2022 and having a share of just 6.5% in imports in the same month. Also, for the first time since April 2022, liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports through the Holy Trinity gateway showed a decrease compared to the same month of the previous year (-6.9%). However, LNG was also this month by far the main source of gas for the country with 2.96 TWh, and a share of 68.1% of the total natural gas flows imported by Greece. Imports from TAP via Nea Mesimvria also showed a large decrease compared to March 2022 (-30.3%) contributing 0.87 TWh and occupying a share of 20.1%, while the quantity imported from Turkey via Kipi was very low (0.23 TWh and a share of 5.4%).

Cumulatively for the first quarter of 2023, LNG imports via the Holy Trinity ranked first among supply sources with 10.27 TWh – an increase of 11.3% compared to the same period in 2022 – and a share of 72.4%. On the contrary, a large decrease by 30.3% was shown by the imports of Azeri gas from TAP, which with 2.65 TWh and a share of 18.7%, continued to be in second place in the first quarter of 2023. However, an even greater decrease was noted by the imports of Russian gas covering domestic consumption, as they shrank by 85.9% compared to the same period in 2022. Thus, with only 0.76 TWh and a share of 5.4% among the four gateways, Russian gas intended for domestic consumption ranked third among supply sources of the country. Finally, the lowest contribution is still made by the gas imported from Turkey through the Garden Gate, with only 0.5 TWh and a share of 3.5% during the first 3 months of 2023.