Nikolas Rigas, Head of Carbon Storage at Energean & EnEarth, recently participated in a panel titled “CCS: From Concept to Solution” alongside high-level representatives from HEREMA (Greece’s regulatory authority), DESFA (Greece’s Natural Gas TSO), Heracles Group (one of the country’s largest industrial emitters), Corinth Pipeworks (a leading Greek pipe construction company), and Ernst & Young.
Nikolas emphasized that carbon capture and storage (CCS) has moved beyond the conceptual stage; it is now a viable and practicable solution. Europe is rapidly decarbonizing its industry, and the question is no longer if we should follow suit, but when.
The conversation moved on to whether Greece will take a leading role? The CCS value chain in Greece is ready, but if time is lost, there is a risk of losing hard-to-abate industries - industries Greece should be proud of. Greece is home to some of the oldest cement factories and largest refineries in Europe.
“Prinos is an old oil-producing field that began production in the early 1980s and is now nearing the end of its life. We can repurpose it to help decarbonize industries, while also extending the industrial activity in the Gulf of Kavala, continuing to provide business and employment opportunities to local communities,” said Nikolas.
Over €700 million in subsidies have been allocated to CCS projects in Greece. “We are now at a crossroads, needing to resolve a few remaining issues across the value chain in order to become one of the first countries in Europe to successfully decarbonize its heavy industry,” Nikolas concluded.