Brussels, 24/05/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, the Commission granted conditional approval to the gas pipeline, which will connect Greece and Italy, from the third party access rules of the “gas” directive (directive 2003/55/EC) for a limited period. This exemption, provided for in Article 22 of the directive, is to allow major new gas infrastructures to proceed.
The Poseidon gas pipeline, which is being built by Edison of Italy and DEPA of Greece, will promote more effective competition on the Italian gas market. Firstly, it will enable Edison, a competitor to ENI (which is by far the leading force on the Italian market), to compete more effectively as it will now control its own source of imports. Secondly it gives DEPA, not present on the Italian market, the chance to compete there. Thirdly, a part of the capacity will be made available to third parties, again promoting new competition. In addition to this, there is every possibility that this pipeline will bring gas into the EU directly from "non-traditional" suppliers. Given these very positive elements, the Commission decided to support the decision of the Greek and Italian Regulators to grant the derogation. However, in order to ensure that the criteria under which an exemption can be granted are strictly adhered to, the Commission decided to make the agreement subject to certain conditions. The Greek and Italian regulators, in their economic analysis of the project, will have to take account of sources of the gas (traditional and non-traditional suppliers); they will also have to state which procedure is to be used to approve the exemption if it is decided to increase the capacity of the gas pipeline, which at the moment is between 8 and 10 billion cubic metres per year.
“This decision shows a positive approach by the Commission to new investments that promote the EU's security of gas supply as well as competition. It equally demonstrates an insistence by the Commission that national Regulatory Authorities, when approving derogations, need to limit them to the minimum necessary to enable the project to proceed,” the Commission said in a press release. (eh)