Greece's DEPA Gets All Licenses For Onshore Part Of Poseidon Pipeline For Russian Gas

Greek gas corporation DEPA has completed all engineering studies and obtained all licenses for the onshore section of the Poseidon gas pipeline project, planned for deliveries of Russian gas to Europe, Dimitrios Manolis, DEPA Head of International Activities, told Sputnik

THESSALONIKI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th September, 2019) Greek gas corporation DEPA has completed all engineering studies and obtained all licenses for the onshore section of the Poseidon gas pipeline project, planned for deliveries of Russian gas to Europe, Dimitrios Manolis, DEPA Head of International Activities, told Sputnik.

"In accordance with the cooperation agreement between Gazprom, DEPA and Edison, signed in St. Petersburg on June 2, 2017, all required front-end engineering design (FEED) for the IGI Poseidon project was timely completed and all environmental permits for the onshore section the Poseidon pipeline project were obtained," Manolis said.

The agreement allocated two years for engineering surveys and obtaining licenses, both were completed as planned.

"The fully developed and approved Poseidon project is a realistic and viable option for transporting any gas available on the Greek-Turkish border, in accordance with EU rules," Manolis said.

The Poseidon project was designed to diversify the deliveries of Russian gas to Europe from several sources, including from the Turkish border with Greece, and from other countries of the Eastern Mediterranean. In June 2017, Gazprom, Edison and DEPA signed a cooperation agreement for the implementation of the project.

The project is designed to deliver 12 billion cubic meters of gas per year with the possibility of increasing capacity to 20 billion cubic meters. The onshore section of the gas pipeline in Greece has a length of 770 kilometers (478 miles), the underwater section across Ionian Sea is 210 kilometers long. Gas for the project was supposed to be taken from the second line of the TurkStream, a project to deliver gas from Russia to Turkey across Black Sea, but then it was decided to run the source pipeline through Bulgaria.