Azerbaijan, Baku, July 1 / Trend E. Ismailov /
The Trans Adriatic Pipeline project has great potential for the supply of gas to the Balkans, head of SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) Rovnag Abdullayev said in an interview with the first state TV channel (AzTV).
"The gas pipeline will cover not only Greece, Albania and Italy, but will also enter the markets of the Balkan countries through interconnections. Specifically, it will transport the gas to the Bulgarian market, participate in the process of gasification of Albania and secure gas supplies to Montenegro and other countries," Abdullayev said.
With regard to the equity of the project's shareholders for the development of the Azerbaijani offshore gas condensate field Shah Deniz in the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project, Abdullayev said acquisition of a 50 per cent stake in the project by SOCAR, BP, Statoil and Total will be completed by the year end.
Last Friday, shareholders of the project to develop the Azerbaijani gas condensate field Shah Deniz announced the selection of the TAP project as a route for transporting 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 southern Italy and then 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 per cent), Norway's Statoil (42.5 per cent) and E.ON Ruhrgas of Germany (15 per cent).
Construction of TAP is expected to start in 2015.