EastMed market test by end-2023
The market test for the EastMed pipeline – the project to transport natural gas from East Mediterranean gas fields to Italy and Central Europe through Greece – is expected to take place by the end of 2023, officials of owner IGI Poseidon told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency.
IGI Poseidon belongs in equal shares (50%-50%) to Greece’s DEPA International Projects and Italy’s Edison.
The natural gas pipeline is 2,000 km long (over 1,400 km lie underwater) and will be able to transport 21 billion cubic meters of gas annually in its final stage.
The project has been in talks for a decade, while it has been included in the EU’s Projects of Common Interest (PCI) since 2013.
According to information, the project will be included anew in the updated list expected to be announced in the fall. Doubts about the project’s feasibility – as to the cost of over 6 billion euros and the technical challenges that included a maximum sea depth of 3,000 meters – among other issues have kept the project in suspension.
But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that led to the EU’s decision to decrease dependency on Russian gas imports has given the project new impetus.
IGI Poseidon officials said the market test will evaluate market interest in the pipeline, while it will also examine the existence of enough natural gas quantities in the gas fields discovered so far and interest in having the gas transported to Europe.
The pipeline has been designed to allow for the transfer of green hydrogen too, in which the Middle East is a leading producer.
