Greece to Get its First LNG Bunkering Vessel

Public Gas Corporation of Greece (DEPA) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have signed an agreement to finance the construction of a new LNG bunkering vessel for use in Greece.

The vessel will be based in Piraeus and will have a a capacity of 3,000 cubic meters of LNG. She will be the first such vessel in Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean and will be supplied with LNG at Revithoussa LNG terminal. She will be used to refuel ships both in Piraeus and other ports in Greece and the wider region.

The EUR 20 million ($22 million) loan is guaranteed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments and will cover 50 percent of the vessel’s construction cost. Further funding has been obtained from the European Union.

The agreement was signed by Konstantinos Xifaras, Chief Executive Officer of DEPA, and Andrew McDowell, EIB Vice-President, in the presence of the President of the Board of Directors of DEPA, Ioannis Papadopoulos, who said: “The new financing from the EIB, the largest investment arm of Europe, is yet one more vote of confidence to the growth prospects of the Greek economy and confirms the significant improvement of the investment climate. It comes in support of a crucial investment in the area of natural gas, which is at the center of global developments and contributes to the transformation of Greece into a regional hub.”

Furthermore, he says, this is a green investment which paves the way for cleaner and more competitive maritime transport in the eastern Mediterranean, contributing to the reduction of the country’s environmental footprint, in accordance with the ambitious targets set by the new National Plan for Energy and Climate.

Financing provided by the EIB Group in 2019 supported total investment of around EUR 280 billion ($310 billion) in Europe and worldwide. A record 31 percent share of EIB financing went into climate action projects. In 2019, the EIB Group approved the most ambitious climate targets of any multilateral development bank globally. The EIB aims to dedicate 50 percent of its financing to climate action and environmental sustainability as of 2025. It expects to unlock more than one trillion euros in green finance by 2030. And it will align all its activities with the Paris Agreement by the end of this year. Under its new energy lending policy, the EIB has decided to stop considering conventional fossil-fuel projects as from the end of 2021.