Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 21 / Trend A.Badalova /
Greece's gas company DEPA confirms its commitment to continue the development of ITGI (Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy) project as the most advanced option for the timely and most efficient opening of the Southern Gas Corridor, the Chairman of IGI Poseidon and CEO of DEPA Harry Sachinis said in a statement, disseminated on Monday.
He said that the company believes that ITGI is the most advanced pipeline system, and is the only one with all the necessary permits and agreements in place and strongly supported by the governments of both Greece and Italy.
Earlier the Shah Deniz consortium said that ITGI is not longer concerned as the project to deliver Azerbaijani gas to the European markets. The decision was made in accordance with the previously announced criteria for the export of gas from Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field to the European countries.
"We understand that this is just a provisional decision by Shah Deniz, and we remain convinced that the ITGI project presents the best solution for the opening of the Southern Gas Corridor and for Azerbaijan, or other gas producing countries, to export their gas to Europe," Sachinis said.
Earlier, the Italian economic development ministry Monday in a joint statement with the Greek environment and energy ministry said the two countries reiterate their support for ITGI project.
Sachinis also stressed that ITGI is the only project able to take a Final Investment Decision in line with the time schedule of gas production from the second phase of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas filed development, and thanks to the pipeline from Greece to Bulgaria (the IGB pipeline project) the ITGI system will enable the diversity of sources and routes of supply to Southeastern Europe from 2014.
On Oct. 1, ITGI along with the other Southern Gas Corridor projects (Nabucco and TAP) submitted their final proposals to the Azerbaijani side. Azerbaijan plans to export 10 billion cubic metres of gas within the Shah Deniz-2 project.
ITGI project envisages gas supplies from the Caspian region and the Middle East to the EU countries. It includes updated Turkish pipeline infrastructure and the Turkey-Greece junction pipeline and IGI. Its planned capacity is 11.8 billion cubic meters per year.
The project is being developed by Italy's Edison SpA (EDN.MI) and DEPA.