TAP Wins Approval for Olive Grove Removal

The multinational Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) consortium won another legal battle March 27 when Italy's Council of State rejected appeals by local authorities in southern Italy to block the environmental impact assessment awarded by the Italian government in 2014. The appeals have been in play for some months, delaying the work.

The appeals related to the necessary temporary removal of some 2,000 olive trees in Puglia, distributed among a large number of landowners, and about which TAP published a list of questions and answers the same day and which may be read here.

TAP told NGW March 28: "This therefore reaffirms that TAP has all the necessary permits in place to carry out construction works within the legal framework in Italy."

TAP route

(Credit: TAP)

TAP would not be drawn on the question of the schedule, beyond saying that it is at risk owing to the lengthy permitting process in Italy. First gas is due from the second phase of Shah Deniz gas field in the Azeri section of the Caspian Sea in 2018 and TAP is due to start operations in 2020 – with no indication of which period of the year.

William Powell