Terms of TAP project implementation named
The construction of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is planned to begin in 2014 and last for approximately four years, the source in TAP told Trend on July 3.
According to the source, TAP intends to make its Final Investment Decision (FID), one month before the Shah Deniz Consortium plans to announce their FID (in October, 2013).
"Following this, TAP will work towards preparing for construction, which is planned to begin in 2014 and last for approximately four years," the source wrote Trend in an e-mail.
Last week the consortium of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field development officially announced the selection of TAP as the route to transport its gas to Europe. Another pipeline vying for Azerbaijani gas transportation to Europe was Nabucco West.
The TAP project is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to the south of Italy and further to Western Europe. Gas which will be produced during the second stage of Shah Deniz field development is considered as the main source for the project.
The source in TAP also stressed the importance of the Trans Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) in the Southern Gas Corridor value chain.
"TANAP is a very important link in the whole Southern Gas Corridor value chain and we plan to connect directly to the pipeline at the Turkish / Greek border," the source said.
The source mentioned that TAP signed a Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation with TANAP in November 2012, and has been working closely on the technical interface with TANAP since that point.
The signed agreement envisaged the establishment a technical and commercial cooperation between the two parties and formalizes a mutual framework and forum for coordinated activities and exchanges of information. As a result, TAP and TANAP have established a joint working group and both parties have held regular meetings in Ankara, since the signing of the MoU, in order to further evaluate areas of potential cooperation between the parties.
"TAP will continue the work within this agreement," the source said.
The TAP route will be approximately 870 kilometers in length (Greece 550 km; Albania 210 km; offshore Adriatic Sea 15km; Italy 5 km). TAP's initial pipeline capacity will be 10 billion cubic meters per year, but it will be easily expandable to 20 billion cubic meters per year. TAP's shareholders are AXPO of Switzerland (42.5 percent), Norway's Statoil (42.5 percent) and E.ON Ruhrgas of Germany (15 percent).