With Greece’s privatization program staggered by the failure to get even a single offer for the natural gas company DEPA, the lone bidder for the distribution branch, DESFA – Azerbaijian’s state energy company SOCAR is said to hiked its offer to 400 million euros, some $535.6 million.
Reports said SOCAR made the revision in a submission to the Greek state privatization fund (TAIPED) for a 66 percent stake in DEPA, which is still up for sale. According to an independent valuator, the minimum price for the stake was 330 million euros, or $441.9 million.
That led some analysts to suggest that Azerbaijan will choose the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) – which will go through Greece – for the transmission of Azeri gas to Western Europe. Azerbaijan is expected to choose between TAP and rival pipeline Nabucco West by end-June.
However, according to a report in Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta, the Azeri government is leaning toward Nabucco West rather the pipeline sponsored by the Greek, Albanian, Italian and Croatian governments.
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