Turkey - Greece Natural Gas Pipeline To Be Inaugurated On July 14th

PARIS - reece natural gas pipeline will be inaugurated on July 14th with a ceremony in which Turkish and Greek Prime Ministers Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kostas Karamanlis are expected to participate," said Turkish Energy & Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Guler, who met Greek Energy Minister Dimitris Sioufas within the scope of International Energy Agency`s Ministerial Meeting, in Paris on Tuesday.
Groundbreaking ceremony of the pipeline was held on July 3rd, 2005 with the participation of Erdogan and Karamanlis.
The natural gas --from Caspian basin, Middle East and other countries neighboring Turkey-- will be pumped to Europe via Turkey and Greece, through the pipeline.
The pipeline starts from Karacabey (near Bursa). Total length of the pipeline is 300 km. of which 211 kilometers are within Turkey. 17 km of the pipeline goes under Marmara Sea and ends in Komotini (in Greece).

-TRIPARTITE MEETING-
Guler said, "following our meeting with Greek minister, we held a tripartite meeting with participation of U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman. We discussed Nabucco project which will carry Azerbaijani natural gas to Greece via Turkey and then to Italy and Europe."
Guler said that he also discussed the project with his Italian counterpart in a separate meeting.
"All ministers agreed that Turkey plays a key role regarding energy security," added Guler.
Following his meetings, Guler departed from Paris for Turkey.