Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.17
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which envisages Azerbaijani gas supply to Europe, will help Albania to turn into a regional natural gas hub, said Ulrike Andres, TAP’s managing director ad interim in Albania.
As a consequence of building TAP, it is expected that Albania’s regional and geo-strategic significance will increase, Andres told Emerging Europe.
“This will contribute to the country’s commercial and physical integration into Europe. Additionally, many local businesses have already become involved in the project and opportunities will increase during the next phases of the project,” said Andres.
She pointed out that TAP will help to establish the basis for the diversification of the Albanian energy sector and the potential for its transformation into a regional natural gas hub.
“Albania will be able to grow the country’s natural gas network. Developing a gas network will mean that the dependence on coal for electricity generation will be reduced, and as a result, the environmental performance of the Albanian energy sector will improve significantly. Albania will be able to play a key role in the gasification of South East Europe, enabling other countries of the region to connect to natural gas supplies from the Caspian area,” added Andres.
TAP is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor which is one of the priority energy projects for the EU.
TAP project envisages transportation of gas from the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas and condensate field to the EU countries.
The pipeline will be connected to the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy's south.
TAP’s shareholders are: BP (20 percent), State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (20 percent), Snam (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).
TAP will be 878 kilometers in length (Greece 550 km, Albania 215 km, Adriatic Sea 105 km, and Italy 8 km). Its highest point will be 1,800 meters in Albania’s mountains, while its lowest point will be 820 meters beneath the sea.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn