Edison discovers gas deposit in Algeria

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2006

ROME (AFP) — Italy's second-largest power company Edison has said that it has discovered a huge gas deposit in the Algerian desert.

"The deposit of some 100 to 120 billion cubic meters (130 to 160 billion cubic yards) is a third more than the Egyptian deposit, which is one of the biggest in the Mediterranean," Umberto Quadrino, an Edison executive, said in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera Sunday.

Quadrino also stressed the need for Edison and its shareholders Electricite de France (EDF) and Delmi -- an arm of Italian energy group AEM -- to "diversify our supplies and increase our imports by building new gas pipelines.

"The final decision on constructing a gas pipeline between Algeria and Sardinia in Italy will be taken in a year, once...