Minister: Bosnia and Herzegovina working on interconnection project to receive Azerbaijani gas
By Leman Mammadova
The work are uninterruptedly underway to bring Azerbaijani gas to Balkan countries as soon as possible.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is working on interconnection project to receive Azerbaijani gas, Federal Minister of Energy, Mining and Industry of Bosnia and Herzegovina Nermin Džindić told Trend.
"Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with the company BH-GAS d.o.o. Sarajevo which is in charge of development projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is working on realization of the Southern interconnection of B&H with Croatia project, which would create conditions for future expected connection to Ionian Adriatic Pipeline (IAP) and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP)," said the minister.
He pointed out that the Southern interconnection of B&H and Croatia is a project of interconnection of gas systems of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.
"The main objective of the project is to secure a new route of natural gas supply for B&H by which a reliable and secure natural gas supply would be secured for Bosnia and Herzegovina," noted Džindić.
IAP is a proposed natural gas pipeline in Southeastern Europe (SEE) that will stretch from Albania through Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, to Split in Croatia.The capacity of the pipeline will amount to five billion cubic meters of gas per year.
IAP pipeline in the Albanian city of Fier is planned to be connected to the TAP, which is intended for the supply of Azerbaijani gas to Europe. The IAP will ensure the supply of Azerbaijani gas to a number of countries in South-Eastern Europe.
In 2013, a mutual memorandum of understanding on construction of Trans-Adriatic and Ion-Adriatic gas lines were signed among Azerbaijan, Montenegro, Albania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as a memorandum of understanding on South Gas Corridor and South-East European Corridor projects were signed among Azerbaijan, Albania, Croatia and Montenegro.
The Southern Gas Corridor, $ 40 billion worth project, envisages the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey and Europe through the pipeline, which will be operated within the second stage of the Shah Deniz gas condensate field project in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.
Gas produced within Shah Deniz Stage 2 will be transported from the Caspian Sea to Europe, through Italy, Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Albania and the seabed of the Adriatic Sea.
The Southern Gas Corridor consists of four projects: Shah Deniz 2, Expansion of South Caucasus Pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum), the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
On May 29, Baku hosted the launch of the first phase of the Southern Gas Corridor project, and on June 12, the opening ceremony of the TANAP took place in the Turkish province of Eskisehir.
Thus, the first gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field has already gone through the first segment of the Southern Gas Corridor - from the Sangachal terminal to the expanded South Caucasus Pipeline.
TAP envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijani Shah Deniz-2 gas field to Greece and southern Italy across the Adriatic Sea through Greece and Albania, and involves designing, construction and operation of the natural gas pipeline.
The Intergovernmental Agreement on the TAP project was signed by Albania, Italy and Greece in February 2013. The 878-kilometer-long TAP pipeline (Greece 550 kilometers, Albania 215 kilometers, Adriatic Sea 105 kilometers, and Italy 8 kilometers) having connected to the TANAP on the Turkish-Greek border, will run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy’s south.
In November, TAP and TANAP successfully completed their connection on the banks of the Merich River on the Turkish-Greek border.
The initial capacity of TAP will be 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year with the possibility of doubling it. About 82.4 percent of TAP pipeline construction works were implemented.
TAP shareholders include BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).
The TAP project is one of the strategic objectives of the EU in the energy security and diversification of energy sources, chosen as the shortest and direct way to export natural gas from Azerbaijan to the European markets.
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