SOCAR is ready to let Greece have part of its share in the TAP project, Elshad Nasirov, Vice President of SOCAR for Investments and Marketing, told journalists.
He said SOCAR is open to this proposal. “If Greece would like to buy a share, we will be ready to provide it. But the main demand is that Greece will have “to pay all the bills in time,” Nasirov said.
“If Greece finds a company, which will be able to take part in TAP as the shareholder, SOCAR is ready to sell part of its share to it to make sure that Greece is more involved in the pipeline project, than it is now. Our intentions coincide. However, the company must be solvent enough not to delay the pipeline construction and implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project,” said SOCAR Vice President.
Nasirov added that Azerbaijan maintains contacts with Greece. “We keep in touch with the new Greek government, Ministries and companies. As soon as we have a possibility to contribute to development of Greek economy through implementation of this project, we will take advantage of this opportunity,” he said.
On February 12, 2015 Panayotis Lafazanis, Greek Ministry of Industry, Environment and Energy, arrived in Baku to attend the first session of the Consultative Council of the Southern Gas Corridor. That time some Greek media reported that Greece would like to have a share in the TAP project, increase fees of gas transit through Greece and reduce price of Azerbaijani gas extracted from the Shah Deniz-2 project.
* TAP shareholders include BP (20%), SOCAR (20%), Statoil (20%), Fluxys (16%), Total (10%), E.ON (9%) and Axpo (5%).
