Russia’s energy giant Gazprom, Italy’s Edison SpA and Greek gas company DEPA SA signed on Wednesday a memorandum of understanding on deliveries of Russian natural gas through third countries to Greece and from Greece to Italy via an undersea pipeline in the Black Sea, Gazprom said in a statement.
According to the statement, the sides are planning to use to full extent the results of work that has already been completed by Edison and DEPA under the ITGI Poseidon project.
“The development of intra-European gas transit capacity is key to strengthening reliability and security of natural gas supplies, including from Russia, to customers all around Europe,” the statement quoted Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller as saying at the memorandum signing ceremony in Rome.
This initiative will bring back the ITGI Poseidon project, completing the natural gas corridor from Turkey to Greece, and via an offshore pipeline across the Ionian Sea to Italy.
DEPA SA chief executive Theodoros Kitsakos praised the plan to revive the ITGI Poseidon project as a step toward greater energy security in Europe and Greece’s role in it as a major knot for various transport routes and gas producers.