Azerbaijan, Baku, July 15 / Trend A. Badalova /
The Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy project (ITGI) will allow Azerbaijan to transport up to 24 billion cubic meters of gas a year to Europe, the head of the Greek company DEPA Gary Sachinis said at a press conference in Baku.
The capacity of the Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline may be increased from 12 to 16 billion cubic meters a year, while Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria capacity (IGB) - up to 8 billion cubic meters from the current 3. The pipeline is expected to be commissioned in the second half of 2014, Sachinis said.
He said that there are additional fields with large amounts of gas such as "Umid" in Azerbaijan.
"If Azerbaijan wants to export more gas, we can provide that opportunity," Sachinis said.
He said that DEPA negotiates with a consortium to develop Azerbaijan's gas condensate field "Shah Deniz" to buy gas both for Greece and Italy.
In case of transporting small volumes of gas (up to 10 billion cubic meters), the Turkish pipeline system will require little modernization. In case of transporting large volumes, more substantial work should be conducted, he said.
Sachinis said that the growth in gas demand in Greece for the first six months of 2011 amounted to 17 percent. At present, demand for gas in Greece is 4 billion cubic meters a year. This amount is expected to hit 7 billion cubic meters by 2020.
ITGI project is included in "Southern Gas Corridor".
The Southern Corridor is a priority EU energy project which will diversify energy supply routes and sources, and increase EU energy security. The Southern Corridor includes the Nabucco gas pipeline, Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), White Stream, and ITGI (Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline).