Istanbul (Platts)--16Aug2007

The ceremonial opening of the Turkey-Greece gas pipeline which had been 
scheduled for this month is now on hold as Greece heads for early general
elections, a spokesman for Greek gas company DEPA said Thursday.
     The spokesman pointed out that the Greek Prime minister Costas Karamanlis
was Thursday due to meet with senior government ministers, and subsequently
the president with the expected outcome a decision for an early general
election between September 16 ? 23.
     "There has been no formal decision to postpone the opening ceremony but
if there is an election then it is highly unlikely that the ceremony will go 
ahead until after the polls close and a new government has been formed," he 
said.
     Commenting on the current situation of the line the spokesman confirmed
that construction of the final section of line across the Meric River which
forms the border between the two countries had been completed on August 11,
and that subsequently technicians on both sides had been involved in cleaning
the interior of the line and conducting safety and other tests required before
it can be put into service.
     ?The tests will take at least 20 days so even allowing for no other
delays it would be impossible for gas transit to start before early
September,? he said adding that there could be further delays if more tests
were deemed necessary but that with further delays expected due to possible
early elections DEPA saw no need to hurry.
     Earlier this month Turkish energy minister Hilmi Guler announced that the
 opening ceremony for the line would be held between August 16 and August 26, 
depending on the schedules of the prime ministers of the two countries.
     A spokesman at the Turkish energy ministry confirmed that no definite
date had been fixed for the opening of the line.
     Turkey had been scheduled to begin transiting Azeri gas to Greece via the
new line late last year however the projected start date has been repeatedly
moved back due to a combination of factors including delays in completing the 
Turkey-Greece interconnection line as well as delays in completing the final 
section of line between Georgia and Turkey and also problems at the BP
operated Shah Deniz gas field in the Caspian which will supply gas for the
line.
     Greece had been scheduled to take around 500 million cubic metres of
Azeri gas transited via Turkey this year, rising to 750 million cu m next
year, although DEPA has long signaled its interest in increasing this maximum
offtake to 1.5 billion cu m/yr.