April 30 (SeeNews) - The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project company said the regulatory authorities in TAP’s host countries – Greece, Italy and Albania – have released a joint opinion, prolonging the validity period of TAP’s exemption from certain provisions of the EU Gas Directive.
The exemption has been updated in line with the planned commencement date of Shah Deniz Phase 2 gas exports to Europe, now expected in 2020, TAP said on Wednesday in a press release.
"This enables TAP to be fully aligned with upstream developments in the Southern Gas Corridor value chain," TAP said, adding that the updated joint opinion follows the approval of the European Commission as well as a positive opinion by the Energy Community Secretariat.
In 2013, TAP secured an exemption from certain provisions of the EU Gas Directive, including a third party access exemption for the initial capacity of 10 billion cubic meters annually for gas volumes from Azerbaijan supplied under the relevant Shah Deniz gas sales agreements over a period of 25 years.
TAP will transport natural gas from the giant Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to Europe. The approximately 870 km long pipeline will connect with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline near the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi, cross Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Southern Italy.
TAP’s shareholding is comprised of BP (20%), SOCAR (20%), Statoil (20%), Fluxys (19%), Enagas (16%) and Axpo (5%).