The Greek government will support the construction of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) pipeline, Greek media reported citing the minister of productive reconstruction, environment and energy, Panagiotis Lafazanis.
During his visit to Azerbaijan, Lafazanis said that Greece will work on the swiftest possible completion of these projects.
Lafazanis attended the first meeting of the advisory council for the Southern Gas Corridor, which was held in Azerbaijan on Feb. 12.
Earlier Lafazanis said that Greek government supports the construction of TAP, however wants to get more benefits from gas transit through Greece’s territory.
“We have concerns about the conditions of transit through the Transadriatic pipeline regarding Greek interests,” the minister said early in February.
Greece’s request for benefits that derive from the completion of TAP was discussed during the meeting of Lafazanis with Azerbaijani energy minister Natiq Aliyev.
In Azerbaijan, Lafazanis also met with Bulgaria’s Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova, where the two sides reaffirmed their countries’ support for the swift completion of IGB and stressed the need to further examine the project’s progress in the immediate future.
The TAP project was selected by the consortium of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field development as the transportation route to the European markets. The approximately 870 km long pipeline will connect with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) near the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi, cross Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Southern Italy.
TAP’s shareholding is comprised of BP (20%), SOCAR (20%), Statoil (20%), Fluxys (19%), Enagás (16%) and Axpo (5%).
Construction of TAP is planned to begin in 2016. The initial capacity of TAP will be 10 billion cubic meters per year, but it can easily be expanded to 20 billion cubic meters per year as the new volumes of gas come on stream.
IGB is proposed to connect with TAP. In January, 2014, a Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation was signed between TAP and ICGB – the company in charge of the development, financing and construction the IGB. The memorandum aimed at establishing the technical cooperation in order to further develop strategic infrastructure in the region.
