Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev discussed Wednesday natural gas supplies into the European Union aimed at reducing energy dependency on Russia, a person familiar with the matter said.
Energy issues were among the top topics discussed between the two leaders, the person said.
The discussion centered on a gas pipeline, known as ITGI, that could supply Italy with 8 billion cubic meters of mainly Azeri gas a year in four years via Turkey and Greece.
Turkey is in direct talks with Azerbaijan over the purchase of gas. A deal is expected at the start of next year, while an ITGI accord for the Azeri fossil fuel is forecast by the first half of 2009, he said.
Turkey is seeking "significantly more" than the 1.5 billion cubic meters of Azeri gas it was assigned yearly in the ITGI project, another person with knowledge of the matter said.
The Azeri gas would come from the second phase of the Shah Deniz field.
However, the person said Azerbaijan is also in talks with Russian companies over the possible sale of the fossil fuel from Shah Deniz II.
The ITGI pipeline is being developed by Edison SpA (EDN.MI), one of Italy's top energy companies, Greece's Depa and Turkey's Botas.