ENI workers in the Sicilian city of Gela have taken over a terminal bringing natural gas through the GreenStream pipeline from Libya in protest against company plans to revoke a promised 700-million-euro investment in the oil refinery where they work.
Negotiations between Italy's unions and ENI broke down last week, leading refinery workers to ramp up their protest and unions to call for government intervention, reports ANSA.
Greenstream is the longest underwater pipeline ever laid in the Mediterranean; it has a diameter of 32 inches, and is around 520 kilometers long and crosses the sea at points where the depth reaches 1,127 meters.
The Greenstream project (Libyan Gas Transmission System - LGTS) is part of the Western Libyan Gas Project and includes the Mellitah Compressor Station, on the Libyan coast, the underwater gas pipeline and the Reception Terminal at Gela, in Sicily.
Construction of the pipeline began in August 2003; laying activities lasted for about six months and were concluded in February 2004.
(Source: ANSA)
