Project Profile
Value: US$6 billion
Location: Connecting East Mediterranean resources to Greece via Cyprus and Crete
Length: 1.300 km offshore and 600 km onshore
Diameter: 24-32 inch – offshore and 42 inch - onshore
Capacity: 16 bcm per year of gas
Start-up Year: 2025
The EastMed gas pipeline was proposed as a way to transport natural gas from fields offshore Israel and Cyprus to the European market.
The EastMed project current design envisages a 1.300 km offshore pipeline with various diameters (24÷32 inch) and a 600 km onshore pipeline (42 inch diameter). The proposed pipeline would maintain the following route:
• 200 km offshore pipeline stretching from Eastern Mediterranean sources to Cyprus;
• 700 km offshore pipeline connecting Cyprus to Crete Island;
• 400 km offshore pipeline from Crete to mainland Greece (Peloponnese);
• 600 km onshore pipeline crossing Peloponnese and West Greece.
EastMed pipeline is preliminarily designed to have exit points in Cyprus, Crete, mainland Greece as well as the connection point with the Poseidon pipeline. The main aim of the project is to enhance Europe’s gas security of supply, develop EU indigenous resources such as the offshore gas reserves around Cyprus and Greece and to promote the development of a South Mediterranean Gas Hub.
In 2015 the project was awarded 2 million euros (US$2.1 M) in European grants through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program necessary for the co-finance of the Pre-FEED activities. In January 2016, after a Trilateral Summit held in Nicosia, the Prime Ministries of Cyprus, Israel and Greece issued a joint Declaration in which they confirmed the strong support to the EastMed project for the export of Eastern Mediterranean gas to continental Europe. The Pre-FEED studies are currently being finalized by IntecSea and C&M Engineering and by the global information company IHS. The studies indicate that the project is technically feasible, well within the existing technology state of art, and represents an economically viable export option.
Operators:
IGI Poseidon (50:50 joint venture between Greece's DEPA and Italy's Edison)
Contractors:
IntecSea: Pre-FEED contract
C&M Engineering: Pre-FEED contract
IHS: Pre-FEED contract