Int’l & Regional Energy News
Croatia, Bosnia, Albania, Montenegro, Azerbaijan Sign Southern Gas Corridor Pact
Posted: Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Azerbaijan, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Croatia and Montenegro signed on Tuesday a
memorandum of understanding on the development of
the so called Southern Gas Corridor, Zagreb-based
state-run broadcaster HRT reported.
Also on Tuesday, the Shah Deniz consortium
announced the final investment decision (FID) for
the second stage development of the Shah Deniz gas
field in the Caspian Sea, offshore Azerbaijan.
The FID triggers plans to expand the South
Caucasus Pipeline through Azerbaijan and Georgia,
to build the Trans Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP)
across Turkey and to build the Trans Adriatic
Pipeline (TAP) across Greece, Albania and into
Italy. Together these projects, as well as gas
transmission infrastructure to Bulgaria, will
create a new Southern Gas Corridor to Europe, the
Shah Deniz consortium said.
The Shah Deniz co-venturers are: BP, operator
(28.8%), SOCAR (16.7%), Statoil (15.5%), Total
(10%), Lukoil (10%), NICO (10%) and TPAO (9.0%).
The TANAP partners are expected to be: SOCAR,
operator (68%), BOTAS (20%) and BP (12%) following
the purchase of TANAP interests by BOTAS and BP
that are expected to be completed in 2014.
The TAP partners are: SOCAR (20%), BP (20%),
Statoil (20%), Fluxys (16%), Total (10%), E.ON
(9.0%) and Axpo (5.0%).
In June, the Croatian foreign ministry said the
countries participating in the TAP project as well
as in the initiative for the Ionian Adriatic
Pipeline would like, in cooperation with
Azerbaijan, to enable the supply of Caspian and
Azerbaijani gas to Europe and to connect TAP and
IAP which would enable the gas supply to run from
Greece to Albania and Italy and from Albania to
the east coast of the Adriatic.
IAP is a proposed natural gas pipeline in the
Western Balkans. It would run from Fier, in
Albania, though Montenegro, and Bosnia and
Herzegovina, to Split in Croatia.
Following the announcement of the FID on Shah
Deniz II, TAP said its shareholders confirmed that
they have passed the Resolution to Construct on
the development and construction of the project.
TAP will transport natural gas from Shah Deniz II
to Europe along an approximately 870 kilometer
long pipeline that will connect with TANAP near
the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi, cross Greece
and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming
ashore in Southern Italy. TAP’s routing can
facilitate gas supply to several South Eastern
European countries, including Bulgaria, Albania,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and
others.
Source: SeeNews