The Minister of Environment and Energy, Stavros Papastavrou, attended the inauguration of DESFA’s (The Hellenic Gas Transmission System Operator) Ampelia Natural Gas Compression Station in the region of Thessaly, central Greece.

The Ampelia Compression Station is one of the largest investments implemented in recent years in the Region of Thessaly, with a total budget of €73.94 million. At the same time, it has been designed with specifications that allow the reception of hydrogen–natural gas blends, enhancing the long-term compatibility of the infrastructure with the energy transition.

Papastavrou referred to the important role of DESFA, which “turns Greece’s geography into real energy power, enabling Greece to contribute tangibly to the European effort to reduce dependence on Russian natural gas.”

“The new Compression Station is one of the keys that transform our country into a gateway for supplying natural gas to northeastern and, potentially, central parts of our continent,” he said, adding that Greece now “constitutes a stable energy hub between East and West and at the starting point of the North–South axis.”

“In this context of tectonic changes, where even traditional alliances such as the Euro-Atlantic one are being tested, energy takes on yet another important function: it becomes a necessary point of convergence, a real common ground between Europe and the United States of America. A bridge that connects the Atlantic, opens paths of interstate cooperation and arteries of mutual progress and prosperity, with Greece at the center,” he concluded.