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SOCAR comments on possible withdrawal a TAP project participant

Oil&Gas Materials 3 June 2014 17:58 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, June 3

By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:

The simultaneous participation of both selling and purchasing companies in the pipeline project, causes difficulties for the negotiation process, a senior representative of Azerbaijan's State Oil Company (SOCAR) told reporters on June 3.

The company representative made the remarks while commenting on the possible withdrawal of Germany's E.ON company from the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline project (TAP).

"It is difficult to hold negotiations with a company which is both the owner and purchaser of the pipeline," the representative said.

Talking about the possible withdrawal of France's Total company from the TAP project, the source stressed that the change of shareholders in the TAP project is a normal process.

The company's representative went on to add that after selling its share in the project for development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas condensate field, it would be illogical for the French company to participate in the TAP project.

"But it would be better for a pipeline company such as Fluxys to continue its participation in this project. SOCAR and BP also need to continue their participation in the TAP project in order to ensure its implementation," the company representative said.

The TAP project was selected by the consortium of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field development as the transportation route to the European markets.

TAP is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy and then to Western Europe.

Construction of the pipeline is planned to start in 2016 and its total length will be nearly 870 kilometers.

The initial capacity of the pipeline will be 10 billion cubic meters per year, but it can easily be expanded to 20 billion cubic meters per year.

TAP's shareholding is comprised of BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Statoil (20 percent), Fluxys (16 percent), Total (10 percent), E.ON (nine percent) and Axpo (five percent).

Edited by S.I.

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