November 3 (SeeNews) - Albania's government said it has approved a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of Azerbaijan for the development of Albania's gas master plan.
The announcement was made by the government’s press office earlier this week.
The MoU sets the ground for assistance from Azerbaijan's state oil and gas company Socar in the construction of the necessary infrastructure for the gasification of the country, with gas to be fed through the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
Albania sees its gas master plan unveiled last year as a big opportunity for diversification of energy sources and boosting the security of supplies, the country's energy ministry has said.
The drafting of Albania's gas master plan has been financed through an EU grant of 1.1 million euro ($1.3 million). The plan contains different scenarios covering the period until 2040. It sets as key priorities the construction of the national gas network and the participation in the Ionian Adriatic Pipeline (IAP) after the construction of TAP, as well as gas connections with Kosovo and Macedonia.
According to the master plan, by 2040 the average annual gas consumption of Albania will reach 1.7 billion cubic meters.
With this expected development in mind, the Albanian government established a state owned company, Albgaz, in December 2016 to run as a combined operator for the transmission and distribution of natural gas in the country, according to local media reports.
TAP project company said in August that it had trenched 360 kilometres (km) out of the 765 km-long pipeline in Greece and Albania. The TAP pipeline will transport gas from the giant Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan through the last leg of the Southern Gas Corridor, connecting with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline at the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi and then crossing Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in southern Italy. TAP's initial capacity will be 10 billion cubic metres of gas per year, which could double further on. Gas deliveries to Europe will start in 2020.
($ = 0.85803 euro)