Azerbaijan, Baku, July 23 / Trend A. Badalova /
Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) offers the most economical route for Caspian gas to Europe by providing the pipeline link to southern Italy, TAP External Affairs and Communications Director, Michael Hoffmann told Trend.
"This market is able to offer the best price to Shah Deniz consortium and many possibilities for gas transmission further to Western Europe," Hoffmann said in an e-mailed statement on Monday.
TAP, which is one of the projects within the Southern Gas Corridor, is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy and further into Western Europe. Gas, which will be produced during the second stage of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field development, is the main supply source for the project.
Earlier this year Shah Deniz consortium made TAP a priority route for exporting Azerbaijani gas to Italy.
Later the consortium chose Nabucco West project as the single pipeline option for the potential export of Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas to Central Europe. The final decision on a pipeline route will be made by the Shah Deniz consortium in 2013.
Last week while presenting the annual report on foreign trade and the internationalization of the Italian economy, the country's minister of economics, energy and infrastructure Corrado Passera said that TAP is a very interesting alternative for all parties involved and it is necessary that the Southern Gas Corridor goes through southern Italy.
According to Hoffmann, TAP welcomes this public confirmation of high level support to the project.
"The public debate on the Southern Gas Corridor in Italy clearly favors TAP now," Hoffmann said.
TAP's initial pipeline capacity of TAP will be 10 billion cubic metres per year, expandable to 20 billion cubic metres per year. TAP's shareholders are EGL of Switzerland (42.5 percent), Norway's Statoil (42.5 percent) and E.ON Ruhrgas of Germany (15 percent).