Azerbaijan, Baku, March 6 / Trend A.Badalova /
The recent progress of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project was discussed during the meeting of EU Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger with the TAP's representatives on March 5.
"The meeting with Commissioner Oettinger was a good opportunity to discuss forthcoming milestones, as well as recent progress in TAP", TAP Managing Director Kjetil Tungland told Trend in an e-mail.
In particular, according to Tungland, the parties reviewed achievements such as the Intergovernmental Agreement that Italy, Greece and Albania signed in February, the December 2012 Memorandum of Understanding concluded with TANAP (Trans Anatolian gas pipeline) and the 2012 cooperation, funding, equity and shareholder agreements with the partners of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas field development - BP, SOCAR and Total.
Tungland also stressed that in the run-up to the Shah Deniz Consortium summer decision on the pipeline route, TAP looks forward to the Commission's review and approval of project's TPA (Third Party Access) exemption application, which was approved by all three national regulators (Italy, Greece and Albania) last week.
"We also remain confident that TAP will provide the most technical, commercial and politically compelling offer to the Shah Deniz Consortium when it submits the Decision Support Package at the end of March," Tungland added.
TAP project 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 to be produced within the second phase of the Shah Deniz field development is considered as the main source for TAP.
TAP's initial pipeline capacity will be 10 billion cubic metres per year, but it is easily expandable to 20 billion cubic metres per year. TAP's shareholders are AXPO of Switzerland (42.5 percent), Norway's Statoil (42.5 percent) and E.ON Ruhrgas of Germany (15 percent).