MEDGAZ

In seeking to be an active player in the Spanish gas sector, CEPSA has been earmarking hefty investments towards developing its activities in this market. One of its major endeavors is MEDGAZ: the company created in 2001 to study, design, build and operate a gas pipeline linking Algeria and Europe via Spain.

Shareholders

MEDGAZ is a consortium of five international companies: Sonatrach, CEPSA, Iberdrola, Endesa and Gaz de France, all of which have a long and proven track record in the gas business and are renowned worldwide for their technical expertise and financial strength.

Significant data

The pipeline will stretch directly from the coastal city of Beni Saf, in Algeria, to the province of Almería, Spain. With an initial capacity to transport 8 billion m³ (bcm) of natural gas per year, the pipeline will traverse a maximum water depth of 2,160 meters and have a total offshore distance of 200 kilometers.

A strategic project

MEDGAZ is a strategic project for Algeria, Spain and the rest of Europe. In Spain, it has been included in the document titled "Planning of Electrical Power and Gas Sectors. Development of Transportation Networks 2002-2011". Moreover, the Ministry of Industry, Tourism, and Commerce has reclassified MEDGAZ as a "priority project".

In Europe, this gas pipeline fulfills the EU's three key objectives: to guarantee stable and secure energy supplies, protect the environment and expand and develop the deregulated market. Accordingly, it has been approved by the EU as a "Project of Common Interest within Trans-European Networks in the Energy Sector".

For more information www.medgaz.com.