Italian executives have talked enthusiastically about the prospects for the Galsi pipeline project, given projections of rising European demand for natural gas in the next decade, despite the recent downturn. But Algiers is taking a hard-headed approach to building the pipeline, to run to Italy via Sardinia, and once more the signs from Algiers are that, five years after the Algerian and Italian partners signed their initial letter of intent, the project is in danger of collapse.