BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec.11
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) and the Ionian Adriatic Pipeline (IAP) projects need to be accelerated, said Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
He made the remarks during the official dinner organized on the sidelines of the 4th Thessaloniki Summit, Trend reports citing Greek media.
“Natural gas pipelines such as TAP, IGB and IAP form two critical corridors:the Southern energy grid from the Caspian to the Balkans and central Europe and the vertical energy axis, from the Balkans to the rest of the continent. These projects, either at the completion stage or at the planning stage, need to be accelerated,” said the prime minister.
And in such a perspective, it is clear that the upgraded LNG terminal at Revithoussa and the planned floating storage regasification unit in Alexandroupolis are opening up new prospects for energy cooperation in Southeast and Southeast Europe, Mitsotakis believes.
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).
IAP is a proposed natural gas pipeline in Southeastern Europe 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.
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 Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria project envisages a two-stage development.
In the first stage, the pipeline capacity will be 3 billion cubic meters of gas, of which 2.7 billion cubic meters will be offered for the long-term market, the remaining share of 0.3 billion cubic meters in the short term.
In a second phase, also depending on the evolution of the market, the capacity of the pipeline can be increased to 5.3 billion cubic meters of gas thanks to the addition of a compression station: 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas 0.5 billion cubic meters of short-term gas will be offered for long-term products.
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