Talks start on Galsi link to Corsica

Doris Leblond
OGJ Correspondent

PARIS, Feb. 5 – Negotiations have begun to link Corsica to the 940-km Galsi pipeline planned between Algeria and Italy, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on a visit to Corsica, a French island off the Mediterranean coast (OGJ, June 8, 2009, Newsletter).

The link from Sardinia to Corsica would require an investment of €425 million, Sarkozy said. The island currently relies on ships for energy deliveries from the continent and fuels its two power stations with heavy fuel oil.

Corsica's natural gas needs are estimated at 300 million cu m/year. The Galsi line, one of two trans-Mediterranean pipelines planned by the Medgaz consortium, is to have capacity of 8 billion cu m/year.