BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb.13
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The capacity of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is sufficient to cover the potential gas deficit in Italy, Trend reports citing Vitaly Baylarbayov, deputy vice president of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR.
“We understand that Italy will need more gas in the next 10 years, much more than they have now. From that point of view, the capacity of the Southern gas corridor and its TAP leg is sufficient to cover this potential deficit,” he told EURACTIV.
Baylarbayov was also affirmative about the capacity of the 14 wells drilled in the Shah Deniz field to supply the 8 bcm/y for Italy plus the 2 bcm/y for Greece and Bulgaria. As production declines over time, other wells will be drilled, he said.
As for the current status of TAP, he noted that the project’s readiness is 91 percent.
According to Baylarbayov, a micro-tunnel allowing the pipeline to avoid the beach of San Foca, the landing point in southern Italy, has now been completed. The conservative timing to make TAP operational was the end of 2020 – possibly earlier than that, he said.
“Whatever we do on the territory of Italy is done with the absolutely highest level of environmental precaution, which is not less strict on the territory of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Greece,” Baylarbayov noted.
What could still delay construction were new archaeological discoveries, he said.
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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