"This is our only way through the future and we will do our best in order to establish it. Greece is the door, at least in the Southern Europe, and we are going to use it," Grigoris Stergioulis said, answering Sputnik's question whether Greece could become an oil hub.
Stergioulis said that many nations, including Russia and Arab countries, want to use Greece as a hub, and "we are trying very hard to establish kind of cooperation and to gain some time that was lost in the past."
Moscow and Athens are currently in the final stages of signing a deal on Russian gas supplies through an extension of the Turkish Stream, the proposed natural gas pipeline running from Russia to Turkey via the Black Sea, to the Greek border.
The extension of the pipeline to Greece was discussed earlier in the day by Russia's energy giant Gazprom head Alexey Miller and Greek Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday the sides were expected to sign an agreement on the construction of the Turkish Stream extension to Greece during the three-day forum.
