Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.13
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Albania is in the process of applying for the inclusion of the Ionian Adriatic Pipeline (IAP) project in the Projects of Energy Community Interest - PECI list in 2018, Enis Aliko, deputy minister of Infrastructure and Energy of Albania, told Trend.
He recalled that IAP project has benefitted from the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) grant in 2012, which enabled the preparation of the Feasibility study and the Environmental Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) report.
“Recently, WBIF approved another grant for Albania and Montenegro, for the development of the Preliminary Design and the update of the ESIA,” added the deputy minister.
IAP is a proposed natural gas pipeline in Southeastern Europe (SEE) that will stretch from Albania through Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, to Split in Croatia. It will be connected with the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP). The capacity of the pipeline will amount to five billion cubic meters of gas per year.
Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation signed in August 2016 by the countries involved in the project confirmed the joint initiative for the development of the relevant project and established the operative body for the Ionian-Adriatic Pipeline (Project Management Unit), which adopted an action plan for the project development in 2017.
This operative body consists of the representatives of the relevant Ministries of Croatia, Montenegro, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the representatives of companies which are the operators of the transmission systems in the mentioned countries (Plinacro, Montenegro Bonus, Albpetrol and BH-Gas) and the representative of the Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR.
TAP is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union. The project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 to the EU countries.
The pipeline will connect to the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy’s south.
TAP will be 878 kilometers in length (Greece 550 kilometers, Albania 215 kilometers, Adriatic Sea 105 kilometers, and Italy 8 kilometers).
TAP’s shareholding is comprised of BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagás (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).
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