The Algerian Ministry of Energy and Mining has announced the completion of a third gas pipeline (Gasdoc Enrico Mattei) across the Mediterranean to Italy via Tunisia.

The pipeline is 349 kilometers (194 miles) long, and will carry 7 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually. The cost of construction was $1.5 billion.

The three pipelines will have a total carrying capacity of 33.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually.

[The pipeline is named after Enrico Mattei, 1906-1966, responsible for the creation of the largest oil company in Italy, Ente Nazionale Idocarburi or (ENI).]

Source: Kuwait News Agency -Arabic, March 1, 2010