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By Trend

The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which envisages Azerbaijani gas supply to Europe, will turn Italy into a gas hub for Europe, Vitaliy Baylarbayov, deputy vice-president for investment and marketing at Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR, said in an interview with the Italian news agency AGI.

This is the future, according to him.

Baylarbayov ensured that the project is set to have a major, positive impact on the Italian economy, mentioning the existing contracts with companies across Italy worth almost $7 billion.

Speaking of the environmental impact of the pipeline’s construction, Baylarbayov noted that TAP consortium has implemented improvements “further to preserve the environment, both on land and at sea”.

Among these, he underlined the adoption of specific construction methods to ensure the complete waterproofness of the pipeline in the area of the micro tunnel, the modification of the temporary access road to the site area and the use of trenchless technologies to bypass protected habitats along the ground-level section of the pipeline.

Besides, there will be no impact on San Foca beach both during the construction process and during the pipeline's operation, he added.

“We will be a major partner for the development of the region [Apulia], contributing towards its prosperity, to the creation of more employment, and making it a strategic area for Italy and for Europe,” Baylarbayov said.

“Construction of the pipeline is going ahead and all the authorizations received from the Italian authorities and the recent decision by the Italian Constitutional Court will allow TAP project to move ahead quickly from the current 57 percent accomplishment and reach 100 percent, expected for 2020,” he confirms, reminding that the other projects which make up the Southern Gas Corridor - the extension of the South Caucasus Pipeline and construction of the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline across Turkey - will become operational and begin to carry gas from Azerbaijan as early as 2018.

Baylarbayov noted that in phase one, TAP will deliver 8 billion cubic meters of gas to Italy, totaling approximately 12 percent of current Italian consumption.

“We therefore already need to plan phase two, which will make it possible to double supplies to Italy and to other countries, creating a positive impact on the price dynamics and on the safety of energy procurement. This will turn Italy into a gas hub for Europe, like the existing hubs in the Netherlands and in Austria. Thus Italy will continue to be the leader across Europe in the transportation of natural gas, both for road vehicles and sea vessels, and it will become a crossroads for transport networks and LNG terminals.”

TAP project, worth 4.5 billion euros, is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union. The project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 to the EU countries.

The pipeline will connect to the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy’s south.

TAP will be 878 kilometers in length (Greece 550 kilometers, Albania 215 kilometers, Adriatic Sea 105 kilometers, and Italy 8 kilometers).

TAP’s shareholding is comprised of BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagás (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).

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