Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-01-23

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Russian charge d'affaires address on 'Russia and European energy security' at ACG

[02] Blockades remain in place

[03] ASE opening: Decline

[01] Russian charge d'affaires address on 'Russia and European energy security' at ACG

According to comparative figures presented by Savva on oil and natural gas production over the past decade, Russia appears to have larger production in relation to Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, while it also has the largest confirmed reserves of natural gas in the world (followed by Iran and Qatar). At global level, Russian production of oil is surpassed only by Saudi Arabia.

Based on those figures, Savva noted that the hydrocarbons of the Caspian region cannot replace Europe's supply by Russian oil and natural gas, but could play a supplementary role and are welcome by the markets.

Savva further noted that the minimalization of the energy transit risks and direct link of the European states with the supplier country, namely Russia, constituted a challenge for Europe's energy security. In that direction, he added, the plan for the construction of the South Stream pipeline was particularly signifcant, and stressed that the Russian side was not opposed to any other plan, such as, for example, the Nabucco pipelline, reiterating that those two pipelines could act supplementarily.

Asked how reliable Russia was as an energy supplier, given its recent dispute with Ukraine (which resulted in a temporary discontinuation of the flow of natural gas to Europe), Savva said that Russia had a 40-year history to present regarding supply of energy resources to Europe, noting that this could not be compared to the two weeks (of the flow discontinuation).

To another question, the Russian charge d'affaires said he was categorically opposed to the use of energy as a lever of pressure for political matters. noting that the solution of Iran has been ruled out on the side of the US.

On the matter of the pricing policy followed by the Russian side, Savva stated that Gazprom's contracts were long-term, and set out in a very specific way the development of the price, unlike what was in effect for oil on the corresponding stockmarkets of New York and London.

[02] Blockades remain in place

Road blocks set up with tractors remained in place Friday for a fifth consecutive day, with blockades along the Athens-Thessaloniki national highway at Tempi, central Greece, the Mikrothebes intersection, Nikaia in Larissa, and Kastro in Viotia prefecture.

Blockades also continued at the two northern border crossings of Promachonas in Serres prefecture and Exochi in Drama prefecture on the Greek-Bulgarian frontier, while the Kozani-Florina stretch of the national highway was also blocked off by tractors.

Farmers also went ahead on Friday morning with new blockades at the Halkidona junction, at the Triglia junction in Halkidiki, and at the Kipi border post in Evros.

Tractors were further deployed at the Strymonas River bridge.

Caption: ANA-MPA file photo

[03] ASE opening: Decline

Individual sector indices were moving mostly downward, with the biggest losses in Financial Services, down 2.16 percent; Food & Beverage, down 2.16 percent; and Banks, down 1.74 percent.

The biggest gains were in Construction, up 0.59 percent; Travel & Recreation, up 0.33 percent; and Oil & Gas, up 0.09 percent.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks was down 1.12 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index was down 0.75 percent, and the FTSE/ASE-80 small cap index was down 0.12 percent.

Of the stocks moved, 7 were up, 37 were down, and 25 were unchanged.

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