GALSI () was a planned natural gas pipeline from

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

and further northern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, as an extension to the TransMed Pipeline.

History

The feasibility study was completed in 2005. The intergovernmental agreement on the GALSI pipeline was signed between

and

on 14 November 2007. Early in 2008 one of the project founders, Wintershall, sold its share to other shareholders and left the project. In 2007, while surveying the proposed route between Sardinia and Algeria, sonar data from an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) revealed a large wreck, later determined to be the French battleship ''Danton'', sunk in 1917.

Route

The pipeline would start from the Hassi R'mel field in Algeria and the section would run to Koudiet Draouche on the coast of

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

. The offshore section with two legs would be laid between Koudiet Draouche and Porto Botte ( CI), Sardinia. The Sardinian section would be planned approximately from the south to

Olbia Olbia (, ; ; ) is a city and communes of Italy, commune of 61,000 inhabitants in the Italy, Italian insular province of Sassari in northeastern Sardinia, Italy, in the historical region of Gallura. Called in the Roman age, Civita in the Middle ...

. The offshore section between Sardinia and Italian mainland is and the landfall would be

Piombino Piombino is an Italian town and ''comune'' of about 35,000 inhabitants in the province of Livorno (Tuscany). It lies on the border between the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea, in front of Elba Island and at the northern side of Maremma. Ov ...

( LI). It would be connected to the existing Italian gas grid in

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

. The exact offshore route should have been selected by Dutch engineering contractor

Fugro Fugro NV is a Dutch Multinational corporation, multinational public company headquartered in Leidschendam, Netherlands. The company is primarily a service company focused on geotechnical, survey and geoscience services, and is listed on Euron ...

by July 2008. As of 2021 project is considered to be shelved.Ordinary Shareholders' Meeting of Snam S.p.A. 28 April 2021
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Technical features

The pipeline diameter would vary between . The initial capacity would be 8 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per annum. Total estimated costs of project are €2 billion. The pipeline was expected to become operational in 2014. The Italian section should have been built by Snam Rete Gas.

Project company

The project company Galsi S.p.A. was incorporated on 29 January 2003 in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. The current shareholders of Galsi are: * Sonatrach (Algeria) - 41.6% * Edison S.p.A. (Italy) - 20.8% *

Enel Enel S.p.A. is an Italian multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas. Enel was first established as a public body at the end of 1962, and then transformed into a limited company in 1992. In 1999, following the liberali ...

(

) - 15.6% * Sfirs (

Autonomous Region) - 11.6% * Hera Trading (

) - 10.4% According to the agreement between Sonatrach and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Gazprom PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐsˈprom) is a Russian State-owned enterprise, majority state-owned multinational Energy industry, energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. The Gazprom name is a contract ...

, it would have been possible for Gazprom to have a stake in the Galsi pipeline.

References

External links

Project GALSI
(in French) Natural gas pipelines in Italy Natural gas pipelines in Algeria Economy of Sardinia Proposed pipelines in Africa Proposed pipelines in Europe Algeria–Italy relations Pipelines under the Mediterranean Sea {{Pipeline-stub