THE THIRD ELEMENT. (Il terzo elemento)

The White Stream Pipeline Company is considering plans to build a gas pipeline linking Azerbaijan and Georgia.

According to British White Stream Pipeline Company Chairman Roberto Pirani, the proposed pipeline would transport gas from the Sangachal terminal near Baku in Azerbaijan to the Georgian port of Supsa.

The Sangachal–Supsa pipeline would provide an extension to the White Stream Pipeline currently in planning, which will transport natural gas from the Caspian Region to markets in Central and Eastern Europe.

Conceived in 2005, the White Stream project is intended to develop the Southern energy corridor, transporting gas from countries in the Caspian Region via Georgia directly to countries on the Western side of the Black Sea, such as Romania and Ukraine. The pipelines will cross the Black Sea in water depths in excess of 2,000 m.

Under the new plans, the project will also be linked in to gas supplies in Azerbaijan. The Sangachal terminal is currently supplied with gas from the Azerbaijani offshore field of Shah Deniz.

The White Stream project will be developed in stages and it is anticipated that at full completion will have two branches, one connecting Georgia to Romania through two parallel subsea pipelines, with an offshore length of approximately 1,100 km and the other connecting Georgia to the Ukrainian gas network also with two parallel pipelines an offshore length of 620 km.
The first White Stream Pipeline, expected to commence construction in 2012, will have a capacity of approximately 8 Bcm/a and is due for completion in 2015. During the subsequent years the other three subsea pipelines will be constructed and will take the overall capacity of the system to approximately 32 Bcm/a. A 430 km subsea connection between Crimea and Romania is also being considered.

The Southern energy corridor also includes [1) ndr] the Nabucco Turkey –Greece–Italy (TGI) Pipeline and [2) ndr] the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
(Pipelines International)