Turkey to purchase TAP share

Botas (Turkey) plans to purchase a share of 15% in the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project, Trend cites Turkish Minister for Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz.

He noted that Nabucco had not lost its significance, especially in the light of the EU’s need for gas. He said that Nabucco and the TAP were not competitors and could be parallel projects.

The consortium developing the Shah Deniz Field (1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas reserves) called the TAP as the route for gas transportation to European markets in late June. Nabucco West is the second route for transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe.

The TAP is to transport Caspian gas to Europe through Greece, Albania, Adriatic Sea, Italy. Its initial capacity of 10 billion cubic meters a year may be expanded to 20 billion cubic meters. The TAP shareholders are AXPO (42.5%, Switzerland), Statoil (42.5%, Norway), E.ON Ruhrgas (15%, Germany). The TAP construction should start in 2015.