Baku, Azerbaijan, April 19
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
There are no plans to connect the Greek segment of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) to EastMed, said TAP’s spokesperson, Trend reports.
No formal communications have been made between TAP and the Italian government in this regard, TAP spokesperson told ICIS.
Earlier, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said that the Poseidon project, the last segment of the EastMed pipeline to connect Greece to Italy was not in the current government’s plans, but that a link could be compatible with TAP.
The Poseidon pipeline, operated by IGI Poseidon, is the last segment of the EastMed pipeline that aims to transport east Mediterranean gas to the European mainland via Italy.
Moreover, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov earlier said that through the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector (IGB) Bulgaria can receive supplies from EastMed pipeline.
IGB is a gas pipeline, which will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijani gas, in particular, the gas produced from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz 2 gas and condensate field. IGB is expected to be connected to TAP via which gas from the Shah Deniz field will be delivered to the European markets.
The initial capacity of IGB will be 3 billion cubic meters of gas.
The Eastern Mediterranean (EastMed) pipeline project relates to an offshore/onshore natural gas pipeline, directly connecting East Mediterranean resources to Greece via Cyprus and Crete.
The project is designed to transport up to 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the off-shore gas reserves in the Levantine Basin (Cyprus and Israel) as well as from the potential gas reserves in Greece.
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.
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), Enagás (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).
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