TAP Confident About Shah Deniz Prospects

The consortium for the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) has released a confident statement confirming that it is the Shah Deniz consortium's choice for the Italian route for Azeri gas.

The statement, released yesterday, comes a day after a BP spokesperson confirmed to a number of media outlets that TAP had been chosen over rival Italian route the Interconnector Turkey Greece Italy (ITGI), should the Shah Deniz consortium choose Italy as the route for the Shah Deniz II's gas. TAP is still in competition with alternative routed pipelines Nabucco and South East Europe Pipeline (SEEP).

The statement said the TAP consortium would now enter into exclusive negotiations with the Shah Deniz consortium to progress the project and was confident about its chance of being chosen for the gas transit.

"We firmly believe that TAP remains a strong contender to win the bid to transport Shah Deniz II gas to Europe," the statement said.  

"We are also confident that the TAP route to Italy offers the Shah Deniz consortium the most attractive market and the most advanced gas evacuation route."