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INTERVIEWGreece’s Development MinisterForesees Oil SurplusThere will be a major decrease in oil prices in the second half of 2003, Akis Tsohatzopoulos,the Greek Development Minister, tells Aegean News. "We are entering a phase during whichoil will be abundantly available," he says, "and this will lead to a considerable decrease inprices, which will compensate for recent financial losses."Before the war started, the price of crude oil rocketed to over$30 per barrel. Now, it is at a considerably lower level. In whatdirection do you see prices going in the coming months?Experts estimate that Iraqi oil production will increase in afew months’ time, and will reach 2–2.5 million barrels perday. There will be a surplus of oil in the market and marketpressure will force prices down, thus compensating for thefinancial losses of the previous months. At the same time,international economists estimate that after foreign capitalstarts streaming into Iraq, production could reach 3.5 millionbarrels per day within the next two years, and doublethat amount in a decade. So prices we’ve seen recently, like$30 dollars per barrel, are almost a thing of the past."Iraq’s production will increasein coming months and oil prices willgradually decrease."At the beginning of February, there was fear that with the outbreakof war there would be speculation in the domestic oilmarket. Now, two months later, how do you judge the marketreaction?The domestic market, made up of petroleum companies andpetrol stations, operated perfectly during the crisis. Datashow that the price of unleaded petrol increased at a considerablylower rate than that of crude oil. Two things playedan important role in this: First, the smooth operation ofcompetition and regular publishing of fuel prices by theMinistry. Second, the new institutional framework on thepurchase of petroleum products (Law 3054/2002), whichcontributed decisively to a smooth market operation. Thislaw was recently implemented and includes the operation ofa crisis management committee, petroleum market monitoring,as well as Groups of Controlling, Distributing andStoring Fuel (KEDAK). In short, we managed to get out ofthe crisis with minimal consumer impact and minimumdamage to the economy.You’ve stated that Greece didn’t suffer any serious losses inthis crisis. However, there is another challenge ahead: The upgradingof the Greek energy network by its connection to thetrans-European energy networks. And there are many delays inthis area?First of all, I agree that the venture that will make Greecethe energy hub of the southeastern Mediterranean is a verytough wager, and one we have to win. Many important stepshave already been taken. Take for example the petroleumfield. The intergovernmental agreement on the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline linking Greece and Bulgaria isto be signed soon by Russia as well. Important steps havealso been taken in the area of natural gas networks. InThessaloniki we recently signed a cooperation agreementfor the construction of a natural gas pipeline from Thessalonikito Austria via the Balkans (FYROM, Serbia-Montenegro,Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia). Thatand the proposed underwater Greece-Italy pipeline, whichis currently being evaluated, concern the transfer of naturalgas from the Caspian Sea and Iran to Europe.Greece is pushing for a pipeline linking Greece to Turkey. Atwhat stage is the implementation of that project?DEPA (The Greek public natural gas corporation) isready to start construction of the pipeline, which isplanned from Komotini to the Greek-Turkish border inEvros. However, it must be made clear that the projects are8 AEGEAN NEWS SPRING 2003