European Commission to finance TAP
By Nigar Abbasova
The European Commission will allocate over €14 million for the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project, which will allow Caspian natural gas to flow into Europe’s energy markets.
The funds are expected to be used for archeological trial trench investigations and rescue excavations to be carried out as part of the project.
The EU member states agreed on the European Commission's proposal to invest some €444 million in priority European energy infrastructure projects. A total of 18 projects were selected for funding and TAP is among them.
The European Commission assesses TAP as a project of common interest (PCI) for its role in opening up the ambitious Southern Gas Corridor, one of 12 energy corridors identified by the EU as priorities for the achievement of European energy policy objectives.
Once built, TAP will play an integral part in helping ensure security and diversity of Europe’s energy supplies.
The pipeline will be connected to the Trans Anatolian Natural
Gas Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through
Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in
Italy's south.
TAP will be 878 kilometers in length (Greece 550 km, Albania 215
km, Adriatic Sea 105 km, and Italy 8 km). Its highest point will be
1,800 meters in Albania’s mountains, while its lowest point will be
820 meters beneath the sea.
The shareholders of the project are BP (20 percent), State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (20 percent), Snam (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent). The cost of the project has earlier been finalized and calculated at €4.5 billion.
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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
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