Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.20
By Seymur Aliyev - Trend:
The Southern Gas corridor represents without a doubt a revolution of the Contract of the Century, the Deputy Minister for Economic Development Claudio De Vincenti said Sept.20 in Baku at a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the Contract of the Century and the Southern Gas Corridor laying.
"It is a very important moment that celebrates the achievements of very important goals in the field of exploitation of energy recourses of the Caspian region. These results are the outcome of 20 years of cooperation between Azerbaijan and oil companies that was signed in 1994 the Contract of the Century," the deputy minister said.
"The role of my country is in supporting the TAP project from the very beginning. TAP represents important drive for gas supply diversification for both Italy and Europe. One of the main goals envisaged by our national strategy is to continue improving our security of supply, especially in the gas sector. That is why the Italian government is committed to pursue the TAP project," De Vincenti said.
A solemn ceremony dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Contract of the Century and the laying of Southern Gas Corridor started in Baku Sept.20.
The ceremony was attended by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, several Heads of State and Government, officials, foreign diplomats accredited in the country and foreign guests.
The TAP project was selected by the consortium of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field development as the transportation route to the European markets.
The long pipeline will connect with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) near the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi, cross Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Southern Italy.
Construction of the pipeline is planned to start in 2016. The initial capacity of the pipeline will be 10 billion cubic meters per year, but it can easily be expanded to 20 billion cubic meters per year.
TAP's shareholding is comprised of BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Statoil (20 percent), Fluxys (16 percent), Total (10 percent), E.ON (9 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).