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CEO of DEPA: â€œITGI is a reliable partner to the Azeri governmentâ€

24 January 2012 13:14 (UTC +04:00)

According to ITGI (Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy) projectâ€™s press office, Commenting upon the further uncertainty surrounding Nabucco and the renewed focus by commentators on the smaller pipeline options for the Southern Corridor, Elio Ruggeri, CEO of IGI Poseidon and head of international gas infrastructures, Edison, the leading Italian energy company said: â€œITGI is the most advanced Southern Corridor pipeline project with all the authorization and permissions in place following a multi-year process, allowing ITGI to start construction works as soon as gas from the Shah Deniz II field is allocated from the on-going commercial bid. It is worth noting also other Southern Corridor projects targeting Italy are still in a very preliminary phase and will require significant time for completionâ€.

â€œThe ITGI project starting at the Turkish-Greek border is fully compliant with any option to transit Azeri gas through Turkey, including TANAP (Trans-Anatolian Pipeline),â€ Ruggeri continued.

â€œITGI is the most technically advanced project enabling ITGI to have a high degree of certainty in its cost estimates for the project, which is the cornerstone of developing a competitive tariff. There is no opportunity to support a large pipeline today. The only gas available today will be the 10bcm from Shah Deniz II, which matches perfectly ITGIâ€™s capacityâ€, said Harry Sachinis, Chairman of IGI Poseidon and Chairman and CEO of DEPA, the Public Gas Corporation of Greece.

â€œITGI is a reliable partner to the Azeri government and our proposal is built to recognize and facilitate the countryâ€™s aspirations. It adheres to Europeâ€™s urgent request for diversification of supply sources and the development of alternative strategic corridors for the transport of natural gas to the European market as soon as possible. ITGI enables Azeri gas to reach South Eastern Europe (SEE), an area with the most need for diversification of resources, through IGB, the only realistic way of providing Caspian gas to Bulgaria and beyond,â€ Sachinis continued.

Note that, The ITGI pipeline system comprises IGI (Interconnector Greece-Italy); ITG (Interconnector Turkey-Greece); and IGB (Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria).