Azerbaijan, Baku, 28 June / Trend S.Aliyev /
Azerbaijani gas to be transported through the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) may go to northern Europe from Italy, TAP Managing Director Kjetil Tungland told reporters in Baku.
"TAP will transport ten billion cubic meters of gas with the possibility of expanding the capacity to 20 billion cubic meters. We also have the opportunity to connect the countries participating in the Trans-Adriatic and Ionian-Adriatic pipeline projects," Tungland said.
The Ionian-Adriatic pipeline is a proposed pipeline to supply gas to the Western Balkans. It is planned to connect it to TAP from Fier (Albania) and further via Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina to the city of Split in Croatia.
TAP has already signed memoranda of understanding with the developers of the Ionian-Adriatic Pipeline project - Croatian Plinacro, BH-Gas from Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the governments of Montenegro and Albania.
As Tungland noted, the Western Balkan countries are very important for TAP, and the project will continue to work with them.
According to him, the gas is currently supplied from the north of Italy to the south, and TAP will ensure its delivery in the opposite direction (from south to north). He also added that the expansion of the gas transmission network of Italy requires a lot of investment, which in turn will turn the country into a hub.
On Friday, the consortium for the development of Azerbaijani gas condensate field Shah Deniz officially announced the selection of TAP as the transportation route for its gas to European markets.
The TAP project is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to the south of Italy and further to Western Europe.
The gas produced within the second phase of development of Azerbaijani gas condensate field Shah Deniz is regarded as the main source for the project.
TAP's initial pipeline capacity will be 10 billion cubic metres per year, but 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).
Construction of TAP is expected to start in 2015.