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Natural gas demand in Greece is expected to grow by 68% until the end of 2011 according to the CEO of the South Stream Marcel Kramer. He spoke at the second Mediterranean Energy Forum in Athens this week. Kramer said that Russia has sufficient capacity to supply Europe's growing needs of natural gas, but the necessary infrastructure is not built yet. His company's plans are to build an undersea pipeline that would reach Bulgaria and there will start two branches. The first will go north to Serbia and Austria and the second will go south through Greece to Italy.

The Greek Deputy Minister of Energy Yannis Maniatis spoke at the forum and stressed that the crisis in the Arab countries has demonstrated once again the importance of Greek-Russian relations in the energy field. According Kerdos, Maniatis stated that the project on the south energy corridor of Europe should begin as soon as possible. Maniatis is convinced that this project is crucial for the energy security of the old continent. However, the Deputy Minister of Energy is adamant that no matter which corridor is given a lead in the construction, it should be chosen not by political, but by purely economic criteria. In other words, by measuring the degree of viability of the project and the return on it. According to the Greek government, the project of the ITGI pipeline is more feasible and more realistic compared with the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz 2. One reason is that the pipeline Turkey-Greece-Italy is more advanced and has approved environmental studies in the Greek part.

Another strategic project for the Greek government is the IGB pipeline, which should connect the Bulgarian city of Stara Zagora with the northern Greek city of Komotini. The Agreement was signed in the spring of 2010 and the project is worth about 150 million euros. Yannis Maniatis is certain that both projects ITGI and IGB would significantly improve the competitiveness of the Southeast Europe energy market. The Minister defined ITGI and the smaller TAP (Transatlantic pipeline through Greece, Albania, the Adriatic Sea to Italy) which target the same markets as the most competitive pipelines.