Italian PM: EastMed could join TAP

8 May 2019 13:55 (UTC+04:00)

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EastMed pipeline, which envisages transportation of East Mediterranean resources to Greece via Cyprus and Crete, could join the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) that will deliver Azerbaijani gas to Europe, said Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

Talking about the construction of Poseidon pipeline, the final leg of EastMed, he said that Italy is not prepared to allow the Poseidon pipeline landfall in the southern city of Otranto but the infrastructure to deliver East Mediterranean Sea gas could join the TAP pipeline, Trend reports citing Reuters.

“We are currently not open to allow the pipeline landfall as originally planned,” Conte said. “The structure is consistent with a connection with TAP and could have a link in Italy.

“The government is certainly not interested at present in building the final tract of Poseidon as originally planned.”

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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