Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.18
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The Eastern Mediterranean (EastMed) pipeline project fits well with the European Union’s target of increasing the security of gas supply and diversification of routes, Εnergy and Environment Minister of Greece, Giorgos Stathakis, said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
It should be a top priority project, if one takes into account that current discoveries in the Levantine basin already adding up to 1.2 trillion cubic meters, equal the size of Azerbaijani gas reserves [in Shah Deniz field], according to the minister.
“Pre-Feed studies demonstrated that the EastMed Pipeline could be a fully viable export option to the converging dynamics between present and future gas discoveries in the East Med region and Europe’s growing import requirements,” Stathakis added.
The minister said he believes that all interested parties should continue in the spirit of the already existing good cooperation to advance the project farther.
The Eastern Mediterranean (EastMed) pipeline project relates to an offshore/onshore natural gas pipeline, directly connecting East Mediterranean resources to Greece via Cyprus and Crete.
The project is being currently designed to transport up to 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the off-shore gas reserves in the Levantine Basin (Cyprus and Israel) as well as from the potential gas reserves in Greece.
The minister noted that if EastMed qualifies as the southern part of the South-Eastern Energy Crossroad, then vertical pipelines such as Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) or Ionian-Adriatic Pipeline (IAP) form the northern part of it.
Greek government strongly endorses these projects with particular reference to IGB, he said.
The latter is a key project and a stepping stone for the development of the vertical corridor that will further ensure the security of supply to Eastern Europe and the Balkans, according to Stathakis.
“We are determined to continue our good cooperation with our Bulgarian friends so as to bring the project to fruition,” he added.
IGB is a gas pipeline, which will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijani gas, in particular, the gas produced from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz 2 gas and condensate field. IGB is expected to be connected to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) via which gas from the Shah Deniz field will be delivered to the European markets.
The initial capacity of IGB will be 3 billion cubic meters of gas.
IAP is a proposed natural gas pipeline in Southeastern Europe (SEE) that will stretch from Albania through Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, to Split in Croatia. It will be connected with TAP.
IAP will provide deliveries of Azerbaijani gas to several countries of South-Eastern Europe. The capacity of the pipeline will amount to 5 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
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