Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 26 / Trend A.Badalova/
A transit agreement signed between Azerbaijan and Turkey completes the legislative framework needed to develop the ITGI project, Italian company Edison reported.
"Edison, as promoter of the ITGI (Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy) gas transit corridor, welcomes the agreement between Turkey and Azerbaijan over the gas transit to Europe as a key step forward for the opening of the Southern Gas Corridor," the report said.
Azerbaijan and Turkey on Tuesday signed a package of gas contracts, which includes issues of cost of Azerbaijani gas for Turkey in the second stage of Shah Deniz, volume of gas supplies to Turkey from the field after 2017, as well as a transit agreement for Azerbaijani gas transportation through Turkey.
The gas produced during the second stage of Shah Deniz field development is regarded as the main source for the 'Southern Gas Corridor' project. Within Shah Deniz-2 project, Azerbaijan is planning to deliver 10 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe. Now partners in the Shah Deniz development consider proposals from these pipeline projects to determine the route via which Azerbaijani gas will be delivered to Europe.
According to Edison, ITGI, together with its spur-line from Greece to Bulgaria (IGB), represents the most advanced and competitive option to open the new Southern Gas Corridor to import gas from Azerbaijan to Europe.
"ITGI is the most mature pipeline project since all major regulatory, technical and environmental procedures are completed, allowing the project to start construction works as soon as gas from Shah Deniz 2 field is allocated from the on-going commercial bid," Edison report said.
The ITGI project (Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline) is one of the three corridors that envisage the delivery of gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field to Europe, along with Nabucco and TAP.
ITGI project will use existing infrastructures in Turkey and Greece with a new pipeline to be built connecting Greece to Italy (IGI pipeline). IGI pipeline comprises two sections: IGI Onshore (600 km onshore pipeline in the Greek territory to be developed by Desfa, the Greek Transmission System Operator) and IGI Poseidon (200 km offshore pipeline across the Ionian Sea under development by IGI Poseidon SA, a joint venture between Edison and the Greek company Depa).
From Greece a spur line to Bulgaria is under development, namely IGB pipeline (Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria). With a transport capacity of 3 to 5 billion cubic meters per year, IGB will be built by IGI Poseidon and Bulgaria's BEH.