The Italian government agreed on a nine months Study of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline in the Adriatic Sea. TAP goes on also in Albania and Greece.
Ships sailing on Apulia's waters for a nine month Study of Feasibility. The Italian government allowed the Trans Adriatic Pipeline - TAP - consortium to start a Study of Feasibility in the Italian portion of the Adriatic sea.
According to Natural Gas Europe, the Study of Feasibility will select the surest TAP route in the Adriatic Sea seabed between Italy and Albania.
TAP section in Italy will finish in a Pipeline Receiving Terminal in San Foca, near the town of Lecce.
In addition to the Study of Feasibility in Italy, TAP consortium started consultations with Albanian local communities, in order to select the better route of the 269 kilometers length of TAP section in Albania.
Moreover, TAP consortium started the sign of a Host Government Agreement's procedure with Greece. The Agreement will enforce the political support Greek government already officially expressed last September, together with the Italian and Albanian ones.
TAP is planed to carry 21 bcm of Azerbaijani's gas from the border between Turkey and Greece to Italy via Albania. TAP shareholders are Norwegian concern Statoil, Swiss company Axpo and German E.On - and probably also British concern BP and Italian company Enel.
In addition to Azerbaijani's gas, TAP could carry directly to Europe also Turkmen gas. According to Trend news agency, the European Commission and Azerbaijan agreed on a common political initiative to convince Turkmenistan - the fourth world gas exporter - to build the Trans Caspian Pipeline in order to deliver Turkmen gas to Europe.
Trans Caspian Pipeline is opposed by Russia, which aims to control all Caspian Sea's policy, despite the Trans Caspian Pipeline is located just in Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan's national sea portions.
Russia tries to block a project planed by Brussels to decrease Europe's dependence on Russian gas supplies, which actually cover the 40% of EU total need.
Matteo Cazzulani
