Poseidon Gas Pipeline

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

Sub-articles:

FrackSwarm portal Coal terminals Coal transport and infrastructure Oil and gas pipelines LNG terminals Pipeline construction costs Methodology and data notes

Poseidon Gas Pipeline is a proposed offshore pipeline connecting Greece and Italy.

Location

The pipeline would connect Turkey-Greece-Italy, running from the Turkey/Greece border to Thesprotia, Greece and then Otranto, Italy. Its proposed sections can be found on the European Commission project posting.

Loading map...

{"type":"ROADMAP","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"400px","height":"300px","centre":{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":40.2763,"lon":21.6297,"icon":""},"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","strokeColor":"#FF0000","strokeOpacity":"1","strokeWeight":"2","pos":[{"lat":40.1473,"lon":18.4871},{"lat":39.6102,"lon":19.6279},{"lat":39.536,"lon":19.6469},{"lat":39.3445,"lon":19.8682},{"lat":39.2424,"lon":20.0596},{"lat":39.336,"lon":20.2809},{"lat":39.3785,"lon":20.3703},{"lat":39.4679,"lon":20.4256},{"lat":39.4934,"lon":20.5447},{"lat":39.553,"lon":20.6255},{"lat":39.536,"lon":20.7064},{"lat":39.5828,"lon":20.8425},{"lat":39.5955,"lon":20.9276},{"lat":39.6296,"lon":20.9489},{"lat":39.6891,"lon":20.9574},{"lat":39.7189,"lon":20.9659},{"lat":39.7572,"lon":21.1063},{"lat":39.7615,"lon":21.2042},{"lat":39.7955,"lon":21.3021},{"lat":39.9274,"lon":21.3446},{"lat":40.0508,"lon":21.4169},{"lat":40.1019,"lon":21.4637},{"lat":40.1955,"lon":21.5361},{"lat":40.2763,"lon":21.6297},{"lat":40.3316,"lon":21.7446},{"lat":40.3571,"lon":21.8169},{"lat":40.3997,"lon":21.953},{"lat":40.3954,"lon":22.0339},{"lat":40.3954,"lon":22.1105},{"lat":40.3997,"lon":22.153},{"lat":40.4082,"lon":22.1658},{"lat":40.4422,"lon":22.1785},{"lat":40.5146,"lon":22.2381},{"lat":40.5571,"lon":22.3232},{"lat":40.5875,"lon":22.3915},{"lat":40.6117,"lon":22.509},{"lat":40.6186,"lon":22.668},{"lat":40.7188,"lon":22.8512},{"lat":40.7707,"lon":22.8926},{"lat":40.7603,"lon":23.0032},{"lat":40.7465,"lon":23.138},{"lat":40.7223,"lon":23.335},{"lat":40.7223,"lon":23.38},{"lat":40.781,"lon":23.4387},{"lat":40.8847,"lon":23.5908},{"lat":41.0126,"lon":23.7394},{"lat":41.016,"lon":23.8051},{"lat":40.9953,"lon":24.123},{"lat":40.9538,"lon":24.3408},{"lat":40.9711,"lon":24.4756},{"lat":40.9711,"lon":24.638},{"lat":41.0631,"lon":24.8006},{"lat":41.0702,"lon":24.8679},{"lat":41.1281,"lon":24.9778},{"lat":41.1186,"lon":25.273},{"lat":41.121,"lon":25.3262},{"lat":41.1224,"lon":25.4066}]}],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":5,"layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview","rotate"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[]}

Project Details

• Owner: IGI Poseidon S.A.
• Parent Company: Public Gas Corporation of Greece A.E (DEPA) [50%] and Électricité de France [50%]
• Proposed capacity: 15 bcm/y
  • Proposed capacity expansion: 20 bcm/y
• Length: 976 km / 606 miles
  • Onshore section: 760 km
  • Offshore section: 216 km
• Diameter:
  • Onshore section: 1,220 mm
  • Offshore section: 813 mm
• Status: Proposed
• Start Year: 2022-2025
• Cost: €3.4 billion (US$3.87 billion)
• Associated Projects: East Med Gas Pipeline, Gas Interconnector Greece - Bulgaria (IGB)

Background

The pipeline has been approved for inclusion on the European Commission's Projects of Common Interest (PCI) list, meaning it is eligible receive public funding from the EU. According to the European Commission, "The Poseidon project aims to transport gas between Greece and Italy at an initial volume of 14 bcm/y (first phase) and up to 20 bcm/y on a second phase. PCI 7.3.3 is part of this project and includes: compression station in Thesprotia (120 MW); onshore pipeline between the compression station and the Greek landfall; new offshore pipeline of approximately 216 km with a capacity of up to 329.4 GWh/day between the Greek and Italian landfalls; onshore pipeline between the Italian landfall and the metering station in Otranto.

As of May 7, 2019, the Italian government was opposed to the pipeline proposal. “The government is certainly not interested at present in building the final tract of Poseidon as originally planned,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said according to Reuters.

As of the end of 2020, the project remained on the PCI list but had not been awarded any EU grants as a result of its PCI status. ENTSOG's 'Ten Year Network Development Plan 2020' Project Details describes how in 2010 the project received a grant of approximately 5.5 million euros from the European Commission's European Energy Programme for Recovery mainly for technical development activities.

According to Bulgartransgaz, "ITGI Poseidon" refers to the entire project which in turn is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor connecting Turkey-Greece-Italy. "IGI Poseidon" is the offshore section of ITGI Poseidon which runs "through the Ionian Sea to connect the gas transmission systems of Greece and Italy where Edison (owned by the French Electricité de France) and DEPA S.A. are equal partners."

In March 2021, the Italian Environment Ministry (Ministero dell'Ambiente e della Tutela del Territorio e del Mare) extended the deadlines for work on Poseidon, putting the project back on track, according to Energia Oltre.

The offshore section of the Poseidon Pipeline was included in the 5th PCI list published by the European Commission in November 2021.

The European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG) code for the project is TRA-A-10.