The agreement reflects the interest of the parties in the natural gas supply route across the Black Sea from Russian Federation via third countries to Greece and from Greece to Italy.
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Russian state gas company Gazprom said on Wednesday it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Italy’s Edison SpA and Greek firm DEPA on supplying Russian natural gas to Europe via the bottom of the Black Sea.
The companies said that work already carried out by DEPA and Edison on the ITGI Poseidon pipeline would form part of the project.
DEPA SA chief executive Theodoros Kitsakos praised the plan to revive the ITGI Poseidon project as a step toward greater energy security in Europe and Greece’s role in it as a major knot for various transport routes and gas producers.
ITGI (Interconnector Turkey – Greece – Italy) has been proposed in the framework of the Southern Gas Corridor from Turkey to Italy via Greece.
Delivery is down 23 percent, compared to the same period a year ago, Interfax reports, quoting data from Bulgarian gas operator Bulgartransgaz that processes about 50 percent of Russian gas going to Turkey.
“The expansion of the intra-European gas transmission capacities is an essential component for enhancing the reliability of gas supply, including from Russian Federation, to consumers all over Europe”.
Edison CEO Marc Benayoun said the new pipeline would meet all the EU’s regulatory requirements.
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Greece now relies on Russian Federation for around 60% of its gas needs – in 2014 it imported 1.75 Bcm from Russian Federation out of its total consumption of 2.9 Bcm.
