Countries Express Interest in TAP in Davos
Senior government ministers from Greece, Italy and Switzerland confirmed their countries’ strategic interest in the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) at the recent Davos summit.
Meeting with representatives of the pipeline in Davos, Italian Minister for Economic Development Corrado Passera, Greek Deputy Minister of Economic Development Notis Mitarachi and Director of Swiss Federal Office of Energy Walter Steinmann, reiterated their commitment to TAP becoming a reality. The TAP website recorded the event. It said the seniority of the meeting indicated the strategic and economic importance of the pipeline project.
President of Azerbaijan's gas and oil company, SOCAR, Rovnag Abdullayev, E.ON chairman, Klaus Schäfer, and CEO of Axpo Trading AG, Hans Schulz also attended.
TAP will open the Southern Gas Corridor and contribute to the diversification of gas supplies to Europe, easing reliance on Russian gas. Gas transported via the pipeline will also be available on the Swiss market and beyond, increasing security of supply for European consumers.
Kjetil Tungland, TAP's managing director, commented: “We met in Davos to discuss the tremendous progress that TAP has made in the last few months, including concluding the Host Government Agreement with the Albanian Government on January 18 2013.”
Axpo's Schulz, who is also chairman of the TAP board, said: “As shareholders in TAP we continue to strive to conclude all the necessary agreements with the Shah Deniz Consortium. In November 2012 we finalized the last in a trio of agreements – the Shareholder Agreement. TAP already concluded the Cooperation Agreement in June 2012 and the Funding and Equity Agreement in August, again demonstrating how far advanced the project is.”
Klaus Schäfer, chairman of the E.ON Ruhrgas board, added: “I believe that with the voiced support of the host countries TAP is now in a strong position to win the bid in June 2013. I very much look forward to the conclusion of TAP’s Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA), due to be signed by the governments of Greece, Albania and Italy in February this year.”
Abdullayev of SOCAR commented: “I am very pleased to witness the strong commitment from all three governments to progress TAP. I believe the host governments of Italy, Greece and Albania are doing their utmost to expedite the agreements and permits necessary to make TAP a reality.”
See also: TAP Concludes Shareholder Agreement