Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 21 / Trend A. Badalova /
The Greek company, DEPA, which is one of the shareholders of ITGI project (the gas pipeline Turkey-Greece-Italy), intends to double the volume of gas sale by 2020 due to expanding its presence on the foreign markets.
"DEPA is going to be not only a Greek company, aimed at the Greek market. We expect to double the number of sale, revenues and profitability," Haris Sachinis, executive director of the company, told Reuters in an interview.
He said that last year the volume of gas sale to the company amounted to about 3.4 billion cubic meters. By 2020, the company intends to increase the volume of gas sale up to 7 billion cubic meters.
He expects a positive course of events after the export opportunities appear upon completing the construction of new pipelines connecting Greece with Italy, and Bulgaria with Albania. He said that it is expected to sell about 1 billion cubic meters to the South-Eastern Europe within 2-3 years, and 1.6 billion to Italy by 2017.
The connecting pipeline Greece-Italy, representing a missing link of the transport corridor Turkey-Greece-Italy, will transport gas from the Caspian region and Middle East to Italy and Western Europe via Turkey and Greece. Italian Edison and Depa company created IGI Poseidon SA to design and build the pipeline, known as Poseidon.
Power of the planned undersea pipeline Poseidon is 8-10 billion cubic meters of gas a year.
ITGI gas pipeline along with the planned pipelines Nabucco, White Stream and Trans-Adriatic pipeline is a part of the Southern Corridor. It aims to diversify routes and sources of energy supply, and thereby increase the EU energy security.
He said that the Nabucco gas pipeline, with a maximum capacity of 31 billion cubic meters, is huge to be built within the current market conditions.
"I do not think that Nabucco will be built now. It can be built in the future," he said.
He said that ITGI pipeline fully corresponds to the volume of available gas. In particular, we are talking about amounts of gas from Azerbaijan, which is considered as a supplier not only for ITGI project, but for Nabucco.
Nabucco is worth 7.9 billion euro, with its construction planned to start in 2012 and the first supplies to be commissioned in 2015. The project's participants include the Austrian OMV, Hungarian MOL, Bulgarian Bulgargaz, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas and German RWE, each having an equal 16.67 percent share. The pipeline's maximum capacity will hit 31 billion cubic meters per year.