Azerbaijan, Baku, 28 June / Trend A.Badalova /
Trans Adriatic Pipeline along with the new pipeline TANAP (Trans Anatolian gas pipeline), being built in Turkey, will directly link the Caspian Sea to Europe, the European Commission stated on Friday.
According to the report released by the European Union Delegation to Azerbaijan, the European Commission welcomed today's final selection of the pipeline delivering Azerbaijani gas to Europe.
The consortium of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field development on Friday officially announced the selection of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) as the route to transport its gas to Europe.
According to EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso, this is a shared success for Europe and a milestone in strengthening the energy security of the EU. He expressed the confidence that today's decision "will provide further momentum to the full and rapid realization of the entire Southern Gas Corridor as a direct and dedicated link from the Caspian Sea to the European Union, which should be expanded over time."
EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger said that there is a definite commitment from Azerbaijan that gas will be directly delivered to Europe through a new dedicated gas pipeline system.
"Whether the system consists of two gas pipelines - TANAP and TAP - or one single pipeline as earlier projects had foreseen - does not make any difference in terms of energy security", Oettinger said.
"We now have a new partner for gas, and I am confident that we will receive more gas in the future," he added.
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. Gas which will be produced during the second stage of Shah Deniz field development is considered as the main source for the project.
The TAP route will be approximately 870 kilometers in length (Greece 550 km; Albania 210 km; offshore Adriatic Sea 15km; Italy 5 km). TAP's initial pipeline capacity will be 10 billion cubic meters per year, but it will be easily expandable to 20 billion cubic meters 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).
Another pipeline which vying for Azerbaijani gas transportation to Europe was Nabucco West.
According to the European Commission's statement, in principle, gas from the Caspian Sea could be delivered to the EU both to Baumgarten/Vienna (Nabucco West) or to Italy (TAP).
"Independently of the concrete route, the European Commission has always underlined that either transport option needed to further allow the supply of Caspian gas to other parts of Europe. The EU had also urged for the construction of a new pipeline outside the EU, which would be scalable so as to allow for future additional gas volumes, as well as a clear and transparent legal framework for the transport of the gas to Europe," the report said.
According to the report, the opening of the Southern Corridor along with the ongoing work promoted by the EU on building the missing interconnectors in the EU will allow for the Caspian gas to eventually reach several countries in Europe, in particular in Southeast Europe.
"The EU continues to hold negotiations with potential gas suppliers in the bigger region in view of additional gas volumes," the report said.