BP, SOCAR, Total and Fluxys join TAP
30/07/2013 - 11:56am
On 30 July, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG (TAP) said that Shah Deniz consortium-members BP, Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR and France’s Total have exercised their option to join the pipeline. BP, SOCAR and Total are developing the giant field in Azerbaijan.
BP and SOCAR have each taken a 20% share while Total has acquired 10%. In addition, Fluxys, a major gas transit operator in Europe, has opted to join TAP, taking a 16% stake in the project.
TAP’s shareholders, Axpo of Switzerland, Statoil of Norway and E.ON of Germany also continue their support of the project. TAP’s shareholding is now comprised of BP (20%), SOCAR (20%), Statoil (20%), Fluxys (16%), Total (10%), E.ON (9%) and Axpo (5%).
“I would like to welcome the Shah Deniz shareholders and Fluxys to the TAP project,” TAP Managing Director Kjetil Tungland said. “Our new shareholders will significantly enhance TAP’s strategic position in becoming an integral link between both their upstream and downstream businesses. This will further strengthen the integration of the entire Southern Gas Corridor value chain and support TAP’s delivery of the project on time and on budget.”
TAP’s shareholders said they remain open to further strategic partners joining the project in the future.
TAP 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.
On 29 July, Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, during a working visit to Greece, said one of the first things Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras asked him when Letta became Italian premier was for the two countries to work together to make sure that TAP was selected by the Shah Deniz consortium, which it was at the end of June. Letta said the selection of TAP as a preferred European route for Azeri gas was “good news” for both countries and would have a positive impact for the next 20 years, bring jobs and lower prices.
Samaras emphasised the importance of TAP and its selection to carry natural gas from Azerbaijan to Europe, which he said was a “massive success” for both countries. Samaras stressed that the construction of the pipeline put Greece on the global energy map and showed that the two countries were able to achieve great things together. europe on line
Comments