Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.17
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
As of September 30, 2018, Spanish Enagas company had invested 552 million euros in the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project, which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, said a message from the company.
Progress on TAP currently exceeds 79 percent, without any deviations from the schedule, said Enagas.
“All the necessary permits have been obtained in Albania and Greece and constructions are being completed on schedule. The management team of TAP is negotiating with the Italian government, obtaining the permits needed to continue working on the area,” said the message.
Enagas said its final investment in TAP will be approximately 270 million euros.
EBRD (500 million euros) and EIB (1.5 billion euros) have approved the financing of the project, whose financial closure is expected to be reached in 2018, according to the company.
TAP project, worth 4.5 billion euros, is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union (EU), and has already attracted 1.5 billion euros from the European Investment Bank (EIB), which approved the loan in early February 2018.
Connecting with the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) at the Greek-Turkish border, TAP will cross Northern Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea before coming ashore in Southern Italy to connect to the Italian natural gas network.
The project is currently in its construction phase, which started in 2016.
Once built, TAP will offer a direct and cost-effective transportation route opening up the vital Southern Gas Corridor, a 3,500-kilometer long gas value chain stretching from the Caspian Sea to Europe.
TAP shareholders include BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).
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