Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

The Trans Adriatic Pipeline has the potential to create new gas markets and to enhance energy security in South East Europe, a source at the TAP told Azerbaijan's Trend news agency amid the increasing support for the realization of Nabucco, which lost in a competition to transport Azerbaijani gas to Europe.

According to the source, this could be done through agreements with other pipeline system operators and national governments, and its commitment to channel a proportion of TAP's capacity into the South Eastern European region.

In late June, the consortium of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field development announced the selection of TAP as the route to transport its gas to Europe. Another pipeline which was vying for Azerbaijani gas transportation to Europe was Nabucco West.

Recently, EU diplomats voiced belief that the Nabucco gas pipeline could be constructed, noting that Nabucco West and TAP are among the projects considered significant to more than one EU nation and entitled to accelerated planning approval as well as consideration for money from the EU budget.

The TAP official said that interconnections with other pipeline systems along its route will give TAP the potential to provide gas to a range of key markets in South East Europe including Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Serbia.

"For example, a connection to the planned Ionian Adriatic Pipeline (IAP) will enable supplies transported through TAP to directly flow to many of these countries. TAP continues to support the facilitation of gas deliveries to the region," the official said.

IAP is a proposed gas pipeline in Western Balkans. TAP has already signed memorandums of understanding and cooperation with developers of the IAP project, including Plinacro (Croatia), BH-Gas (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Geoplin Plinovodi (Slovenia), as well as with the governments of Montenegro and Albania.

The source said that a joint working group of TAP and IAP meets regularly to align both pipeline projects' schedules and technical issues of interconnection, and "TAP will continue to work closely with the developers of IAP on alignment".

The source noted that TAP's landfall in Italy provides multiple opportunities for transporting Caspian gas further to the west - to France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, and even the UK.

"TAP can reach Austria and Hungary via the Trans Austria Gas (TAG) pipeline, Germany and France via the Transitgas pipeline through Switzerland," he said.

Importantly, TAP can supply Bulgaria by connecting to existing or planned infrastructure such as Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria, or using reverse flow, for example, on the Interconnector Kula-Sidirokastro.

The source went on to say that in the last few months TAP has had several productive meetings with ICGB, the company developing Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), to explore the possibility of interconnection.

"We are confident that a mutually beneficial solution will be found through the efforts of all involved parties to enable gas deliveries into Bulgaria especially given the announcement a week ago in Baku where BulgarGaz was selected as one of the purchasers of Shah Deniz gas," the spokesperson said.

Earlier, a source at the energy department of the European Commission announced that the European Commission remains committed to the development of a pipeline through Central Eastern Europe.

"We are working on building up the necessary infrastructure in Central and Eastern Europe," the source said.

The Commission believes that in the medium term, further pipelines are necessary and it is realistic to connect Bulgaria, Rumania, Hungary and Austria.

The source also mentioned that in October, the European Commission intends to publish an EU-wide list of 'Projects of Common Interests' (PCI).

Those energy infrastructure projects could have access to co-financing under the EU funds 'Connecting Europe Facility' and will benefit from fast permit procedures.

The selection of TAP by the Shah Deniz Consortium marks the start of implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project that will allow Europe to diversify its supply sources and increase energy security as well as enable Azerbaijan to acquire a new market in the face of Europe.

Shah Deniz, estimated to contain 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas, is operated by the London-based BP. Partners include SOCAR, Statoil, Total, Lukoil, NICO and TPAO.

Azerbaijan on September 19 signed 25-year agreements with nine European utilities to export just over 10 billion cubic meters of Shah Deniz gas to the EU starting from 2019. The buyers included Axpo Trading AG, Bulgargaz EAD, Depa, Gas Natural Fenosa, Hera Trading Srl, Shell Energy Europe, Enel SpA, EON SE and GDF Suez SA.