Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 25 /Trend, A.Badalova/
Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will bring Caspian gas to Europe in line with the EU's key strategic objectives, the project's official told Trend on Tuesday.
Lisa Givert, Head of Communications at TAP Project said that TAP welcomes the EU's recent proposal on energy infrastructure.
"Enhancing Europe's energy infrastructure is one key component in securing the EU's energy strategy, and the proposal to designate one competent authority to coordinate the permitting process will positively enhance administrative efficiency," Givert said.
Earlier the European Commission announced the proposals to use €9.1 to help upgrade Europe's energy infrastructure. The money will be available under the proposed EU budget for 2014-2020 in the form of newly-minted project bonds, grants and loan guarantees.
The grants will be awarded to a select group of "common interest" projects which will benefit from a fast-track permit granting procedure wherein they will be assessed by a single competent authority responsible for the entire permit granting process (one for each member state) in a period not exceeding three years, cutting administrative costs for developers by 30 percent and for the government by 45 percent.
Projects eligible for EU funding - such as the Southern Gas Corridor to bring gas from the Caspian basin to Europe - could then receive between 50-80% of their funding from the EU.
"TAP welcomes this initiative, as the project's shareholders are committed to making a multi-billion investment that will open a new gas supply route - the Southern Gas Corridor - that will bring Caspian gas to Europe in line with the above strategic objectives," Givert said.
The Trans Adriatic Pipeline is a natural gas pipeline project. The pipeline will transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy and further into Western Europe. The project is aimed at enhancing security of supply as well as diversification of gas supplies for the European markets.
The total length of the pipeline is about 800 kilometers.
The gas produced within the second phase of the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz Field is considered to be the main gas source for TAP project.
The initial pipeline capacity will be 10 billion cubic meters per year. TAP's shareholders are EGL of Switzerland (42.5%), Norway's Statoil (42.5%) and E.ON Ruhrgas of Germany (15%).