BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 27
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
The consortium for construction of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, has received an Independent Natural Gas System Management License for the pipeline’s Greek section, Trend reports citing the Greek Energy Regulatory Authority (RAE), which has issued the license.
This section of the pipeline starts from the area of Kipi near the Greek-Turkish border, crosses the prefectures of Evros, Rodopi, Xanthi, Kavala, Serres, Thessaloniki, Pella, Imathia, Kozani and Kastoria and ends at the border of Greece with Albania, southwest of Ieropigi.
The issuance of the license for a period of 50 years is another step towards the start of the pipeline’s commercial operation, which is due to the last quarter of 2020.
TAP project, worth 4.5 billion euros, is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union (EU). The project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 to the EU countries.
Connecting with the Trans Anatolian 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.
TAP shareholders include 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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