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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-10-03
CONTENTS
[01] Greece at the epicenter of investment plans for natural gas supplies
to Europe
[01] Greece at the epicenter of investment plans for natural gas supplies
to Europe
A strategy by successive governments to turn Greece into an energy
hub is moving into form with the promotion of a series of investment
plans focusing on the country. The TAP (Trans Atlantic Pipeline),
IGB (Greek-Bulgarian pipeline), East Med (Israel-Cyprus-Greece),
South European Pipeline (transporting Russian natural gas) and IGI
(Greece-Italy) projects, currently in different stages of maturity,
are gradually changing the energy map of Greece, the Balkans and Europe.
The most advanced project, scheduled to begin operations in 2020,
is the TAP pipeline. Environment and Energy Minister Panos Skourletis
recently said that TAP will be the first section of a pipeline system,
built from Azerbaijan to Italy, to be ready for operation. The TAP
project (bringing together as shareholders Socar, Snam, BP, Fluxys,
Enagas and Axpo) opens to so-called South corridor of natural gas, a
4,000 km corridor with an estimated investment of more than 20 billion
euros, of which 550 km in Greece with an estimated investment of 1.5
billion. Construction works began in May and transport capacity will
be 10 bln cubic meters of natural gas annually -at an initial stage-
with the prospect of doubling this capacity in the future.
The Greek-Bulgarian pipeline project IGB (Komotini-Stara Zagora) is at
the final stages before the beginning of construction works. Despite
is limited size (compared with other plans) it is considered to be
of strategic significance. It has a length of 180 km with an initial
transport capacity of 3.0 billion cubic meters annually and with
the prospect of raising this capacity to 5.0 billion. Its strategic
importance is the fact that it will be the first link for the so-called
vertical corridor to the North, after Bulgaria, to Romania, Hungary,
Ukraine and Poland, linking IGB to TAP, supplying also LNG through the
Revithousa facility and a new LNG terminal in Alexandroupoli. The project
is developed by ICGB, 50-50 pct owned by Poseidon (DEPA and Edison)
and Bulgarian Energy Holding.
The East Med ambitious project was discussed during a ministerial
meeting between Greece, Cyprus and Israel last week in Athens. The
three ministers will meet again in December. The pipeline is planned to
transport natural gas from Eastern Mediterranean fields (Cyprus, Israel)
to Europe via Cyprus, Crete and central Greece. The first studies -to
be presented to interested parties in October 26 in Athens- show that
the project is technically feasible and financially competitive. The
pipeline will have a length of 1,900 km (600 km land and 1,300 sub-seas)
with a transport capacity of 10 billion cubic meters annually and the
prospect of raising its capacity in the future. According to estimates,
natural gas exports from Eastern Mediterranean fields will total 10
billion cubic meters annually after 2022. The project is considered of
strategic importance for the energy security of European Union.
The Greece-Italy pipeline will have a length of 207 km, linking Thesprotia
with Otranto and will have a transport capacity of 12 billion cubic
meters annually. It is the end section of Greek-Italian pipeline ITGI
designed to transport natural gas from Azerbaijan to Europe.
Finally, for the South European Pipeline project, DEPA signed in February
an initial agreement with Gazprom to promote the project, designed to
transport Russian natural gas to Europe under European legislation. The
pipeline is the development of older Russian plans for South Stream and
Turkish Stream.
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