Intergovernmental agreement on ITGI natural gas pipeline to be signed in October

Italian Industry Minister Claudio Scajola said yesterday that Turkey, Italy, Greece and Azerbaijan would finalize talks on a planned natural gas pipeline that would transport Azeri gas to Italy via Turkey and Greece soon. Officials from the four countries will convene in Istanbul in October to seal the agreement on the planned Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy natural gas pipeline project (ITGI), Scajola said, adding that they had been working on the project for four years. The annual development plan of the EU has allocated funds for the construction of the ITGI in addition to the Nabucco project, on which an intergovernmental agreement was signed in Ankara on July 13. While the Nabucco will carry 31 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe from the Caspian Sea annually in its full capacity, the ITGI is expected to deliver 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year. Through such projects, the EU aims to reduce its dependence to Russian natural gas by diversifying energy supply resources. The ITGI is planned to be made operational by the end of 2012, two years before the completion of the Nabucco pipeline. In related news, Qatar welcomed Turkey's offer to carry Qatari natural gas to Europe via the pipeline network crossing Turkey. With the completion of these projects, Turkey will emerge as a strategic energy hub between the East and West.