Italian energy company Edison SpA (EDN.MI) said Thursday it has formed a venture with Bulgarian and Greek partners to build a EUR140 million pipeline linking the two countries to reduce their reliance on Russian natural gas.
Edison said it signed the deal with Bulgarian Energy Holding, or BEH, and Greece's Depa to build the pipeline for 2013. The annual capacity of the pipeline is between 3 billion cubic meters and 5 billion cubic meters, most of which will come from the Caspian region, it said in a statement.
The pipeline aims to reduce Bulgaria's dependency on Russian gas and is part of the effort by European Union countries to diversify sources with projects such as Nabucco and the Italy, Turkey Greece Interconnector, or ITGI.
The pipeline, dubbed Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria, or IGB, has the possibility to access EU funding. BEH will own half the company while Edison and Depa will equally own the rest.
Edison and Depa are among the companies spearheading the ITGI, which aims to import 10 billion cubic meters a year into the EU from the Caspian and Middle East.