Italian oil group sings agreement with Libyan government

The Italian Oil Group (ENI) said Tuesday that it has signed an agreement with Libya for the building of sea pipeline to transport Libyan gas to Italy.

A statement cited by Kuwaiti News Agency (kuna) said under the agreement, the Italian group will pump methane gas from the Libyan coasts to the southern Italian Island of sicily through 23 inch wide pipelines which extends 600 Km in length.

Building the pipeline will cost $ 5.5 billion and exporting the gas will start in the year 2003, the statement said, noting that the project will enable the Italian firm to pump in annually about 10 billion m3 of gas.