| What is the Poseidon project? |
Poseidon is the name of the new
pipeline that will connect Greece to Italy,
creating a natural gas corridor between Turkey,
Greece and Italy to provide Italy and the rest of
Europe with natural gas from the Caspian Sea and
the Middle East.
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| Who is implementing the ITGI project? |
The company responsible for the development, construction
and operation of the Poseidon pipeline is IGI Poseidon
S.A. The partners of the company are:
| • |
EDISON
Spa through Edison International (a 100%
Edison Spa company) and |
 |
| • |
DEPA
S.A., the Public Gas Corporation of Greece |
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Edison is a leading
Italian operator in the energy sector, active in
the supply, production and sale of electric power
and natural gas.
The Public Gas Corporation of Greece SA (DEPA)
is 65% owned by the Greek state and the remaining
35% by Hellenic Petroleum SA. It deals in the importation
and sale of natural gas in Greece.
|
| Is this new gas pipeline really
a priority? |
The new gas corridor through Turkey, Greece and
Italy represents the most
advanced opportunity to directly connect the Caspian
and Middle Eastern gas reserves to the European
markets.
Thanks to the new pipeline it will be possible to
import to Italy around 8 billion
cubic metres of natural gas per year, an
amount that represents approximately 10%
of the country's consumption.
|
| Which route will the Poseidon
pipeline follow? |
The starting point of the Poseidon pipeline that
will connect Greece to Italy will be located in
the Thesprotia area,
on the north western Greek coast. It will run along
the sea bottom and reach Otranto on the South East
Italian coast.
|
| Why is natural gas so important? |
Because we use it in all the most important areas
of daily life:
| • |
domestically, for cooking, space heating
and hot water production; |
|
| • |
industrially, to generate electric power
and heat; |
|
| • |
in the transport sector, as fuel for low
environmental impact buses and vehicles.
|
|
| Why must a pipeline be built to
carry the natural gas? |
The forecast increase
in Europe's gas demand, combined with its declining
gas production, clearly point to a continuously
rising dependency on imported gas: the proportion
of demand that is satisfied by imports will rise
from the present figure of 45% to 65% by 2020!
Europe and Italy,
therefore, need pipelines
to import gas in order to meet their energy
demand, diversifying sources so as to secure adequate
supplies and promote price competition.
|
| What are the major gas-producing
countries? |
Approximately half of the world's natural gas
reserves are distributed among Russia, Iran and
countries in the Caspian and Middle East area such
as Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,
and Iraq. All these reserves could be connected
to Italy and Europe by the Poseidon pipeline.
|
| How is the pipeline laid? Are
their safety risks involved? |
The pipeline
will run under the open sea for almost its entire
length. In deep water, up to approximately 450 metres
from the coast, the pipeline
will simply be laid on the sea bottom from a pipe
laying vessel, without any need for excavations
or trenches.
Safety is ensured by the fact that the pipes will
be coated internally and externally to prevent corrosion
and to protect against external damage during laying,
while an external concrete coating of varying thickness
will also weigh down the pipeline
for depths under 150 metres.
|
| Is the pipeline safe? |
Gas
pipelines normally don't present any particular
sources of risk. In order to guarantee maximum safety,
the Poseidon pipeline
has been designed taking all the national and international
norms and standards into account.
In the offshore section the project envisages in
particular:
| - |
external coating of the pipeline with cement
to a depth of less than about 150 metres (in
the section near the Italian coast concerned
by the pipeline
this depth is found at over 20 kilometres
from shore);
|
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| - |
burial of the pipeline starting 450 metres
from the coast. |
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In the onshore section the project provides for:
| • |
burial at depths not less than 1.5 metres; |
|
| • |
infrastructure crossings (roads, watercourses,
etc.) using trenchless
methods.
|
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| Does the pipeline involve more
or less risk than the natural gas pipelines that
cross Italy and Greece on land? |
The pipeline
is identical in its design and operating features
to the over 30,000 km of high pressure natural gas
pipeline already existing on Italian territory and
the over 8,500km gas
pipeline network in the Greek territory. It
has been designed taking all the national and international
norms and standards into account.
|
| What environmental laws must the
project comply with? |
The Poseidon project is subject to two environmental
impact assessment processes, one for the Greek section
and one for the Italian section.
Considering the involvement of several nations and
the necessity of a stable and coherent institutional
and regulatory framework for the project, the project
has been the focus of a number of intergovernmental
agreements and is subject to authorisation procedures
in various countries.
|
| Isn't there a risk that, during
the construction work and following the start of
the activity, tourism will be harmed? |
Not only will all field activities be conducted
in such a way as to avoid interference with each
areaìs tourist season and activities, but
the entire project is consistent with the model
of sustainable development and presents limited,
fully mitigable environmental impact.
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