The MoU, signed by Italy’s Edison SpA, Turkish state-run Botas and Greece’s Depa, accelerates the completion of the ITGI Project as a first phase of the Southern Gas Corridor, a strategic infrastructure for Europe's energy security as it will be the first link with the Caspian area where about 20 per cent of world's gas reserves are located.

The agreement defines the general terms and conditions for the gas transit for the ITGI Project through Turkey. This includes usage of Botas' existing capacity up to the Greek border for the gas requested by the ITGI pipeline.

Edison Executive Vice President Roberto Potì said “Today’s agreement is a big step forward for ITGI because it completes the framework for the transit in Turkey and enables us to speed up the finalization of the gas contract with Azerbaijan.”

The ITGI pipeline will require the construction of the 800 km Interconnection Greece – Italy (IGI). The pipeline will have a transport capacity of 8 Bcm/a of gas and include two sections: the 200 km offshore IGI Poseidon Pipeline, which will cross the Ionian Sea and the 600 km IGI Onshore Pipeline.

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IGI Poseidon SA, a joint venture between Edison and Depa are developing the offshore section and Depa subsidiary Desfa is developing the onshore section.

The project also includes the national Turkish gas grid which will be upgraded in order to enable the transit of the volumes to Greece and Italy and the Interconnection Turkey –Greece (ITG), a 36 inch diameter pipeline which was completed in 2007.