Turkey-Azerbaijan Agreement to Boost ITGI

Edison SpA welcomed the signing of a natural gas supply agreement between Turkey and Azerbaijan, saying the agreement constitutes a "key step forward" for the Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline project.

"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."

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told reporters that there were no more obstacles to the transport of Azerbaijani gas.

"The Azerbaijani gas from the Shah Deniz-2 field will be delivered to Europe in late 2017-early 2018," he said.

The ITGI project, which is being developed by Edison in association with the Greek energy company DEPA, aims to transport gas from the Shah Deniz offshore gas field in Azerbaijan to Europe.

Greek Energy Minister George Papaconstantinou reportedly put the cost of the pipeline between €1.5 and €2 billion. The pipeline is expected to carry approximately 10 billion cubic metres of gas a year.