Christopher E. Smith
OGJ Pipeline Editor
HOUSTON, Feb. 17--Hellenic Gas Transmission System Operator (DESFA SA) awarded a front-end engineering and design contract for the onshore portion of the Greece-Italy Natural Gas Interconnector (IGI) pipeline to Penspen Ltd. and C&M Engineering SA.
The 580-km, 42-in. OD, Greek section of the high-pressure natural gas pipeline will stretch from the Komotini area in eastern Greece to Thesprotia on the west coast, where it will connect with IGI’s offshore segment.
IGI will take gas from the Turkish pipeline system and transport it to the Italian pipeline system, providing an export route to Europe for natural gas from the Caspian region.
Italy’s Edison SPA, Turkey’s state-owned Botas, and Greece’s Depa SA in July 2010 signed a memorandum of understanding to transport Caspian gas to Italy via Turkey and the Adriatic.
The IGI pipeline is included in this MOU as part of the larger Interconnection Turkey-Greece-Italy (ITGI) pipeline.
The ITGI line, which will go into service in 2015, is comprised of three sections: the Turkish gas grid, which will be upgraded in order to enable transit of the volumes to Greece and Italy; the Interconnection Turkey-Greece (ITG), a 36-in. line completed in 2007; and the 800-km IGI line, which will have a transport capacity of 8 billion cu m/year (OGJ Online, June 21, 2010).
Contact Christopher E. Smith at [email protected].
