Following an invitation from the Hellenic Institute of Marine Technology (HIMT) IENE’s Executive Director Mr. Costis Stambolis participated in a Round Table Discussion organized as part of HIMT’s annual 2013 conference which took place on November 26-27 at the Eugenides Foundation in Athens. HIMT is considered to be Greece’s foremost Institute on Marine Technology and its leadership includes some of Greece’s top marine engineers and naval architects (see www.elint.org.gr, for further information on the Institute of Marine Technology and its activities).
This year’s conference was devoted on "Offshore, Shipping and Cruises: Towards a new era in marine technology” with several distinguished speakers participating from Greece, USA, the UK, Holland, Norway and Israel. IENE’s Executive Director participated in the Round Table Discussion which was devoted on "Oil and Gas Offshore Technology” and was chaired by Mr. Panos Yannoulis, CEO of Oceanking SA and chairman of the HIMT Advisory Committee. Other participants to the Round Table included Mr. G. Bennett, Vice President and Business Development Director of Europe & Africa DNV – GL, Prof. S. Mavrakos, Professor at the School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering of National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Mr. P. Mintaridis, Energy Business Manager of Greece and EMBS, at Hellenic Lloyd’s, Dr. Amit Mor, CEO of Eco Energy in Israel and Associate Member of IENE and Ms. L. Pekel, Manager of Offshore Technology & Business Development of ABS.
In his presentation and subsequent discussion Mr. Stambolis focused on the use of floating storage and regasification units (FSRU) and their role in promoting LNG trade in the East Mediterranean. IENE’s Executive Director mentioned two particular FSRU projects currently under development in Greece. The DEPA project in offshore Kavala and the Alexandroupolis FSRU being promoted by the Kopelouzos group. Both projects are at similar capacity, approx 150,000 MT, and will vie for the lucrative regional gas trade once the Komostini-Stara Zagori interconnector and the TAP pipeline become operational.
