Istanbul, Turkey, Dec.5
By Abbas Akhundov - Trend:
Albania has invited the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) to gasify the country, Albanian Minister of Economy and Energy Damian Gjiknuri said at panel discussions held during the third Caspian Forum in Istanbul on Thursday.
"Albania and the entire region of South-East Europe have a promising and untapped gas market," he said.
"Albania is actively discussing with Montenegro and Croatia the opportunity to lay the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) in its territory too."
The third Caspian Forum organised by the Caspian Strategic Institute (HASEN), has brought together senior officials, representatives of companies and leading experts from all over the world.
During the forum, projects in the areas of energy, transport and finance in the Caspian Sea region will be discussed and opportunities for future cooperation considered.
TAP project is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy and then to Western Europe.
The gas which will be produced within the second phase of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field development, is considered as the main source of the project.
The initial capacity of the TAP pipeline will be 10 billion cubic meters per year with the possibility of expanding to 20 billion cubic meters per year. TAP shareholders are BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Statoil (20 percent), Fluxys (16 percent), Total (10 percent), E.ON (9 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).
The construction of TAP is planned to start in 2015.