Tap: Socar, Italy to be a gas hub for Europe
Rome - An 878 kilometer-long pipe will allow Azerbaijani gas to reach the coasts of Apulia in a project that implements the best existing technology, originating mainly from Italian companies, to turn "Italy into a gas hub for Europe". This is the future, as seen by Vitaliy Baylarbayov, vice president of SOCAR, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic, engaged in the front line - alongside BP, Snam, Fluxys, Enagas and Axpo - in the construction of TAP, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, which should be completed by 2020. With over 30 years' experience in the industry, in an interview with AGI, Baylarbayov ensured that this project is set to have "a major, positive impact on the Italian economy", mentioning the existing contracts with companies across Italy worth almost 7 billion Dollars. To respond to the opposition shown over recent years by protest groups in Apulia, who are worried about the environmental impact on such a valuable stretch of coast land, the company has implemented improvements "further to preserve the environment, both on land and at sea".
Among these, SOCAR vice-president underlines "the adoption of specific construction methods to ensure the complete waterproofness of the pipeline in the area of the micro tunnel, the modification of the temporary access road to the site area and the use of trenchless technologies to bypass protected habitats along the ground-level section of the pipeline. Without forgetting that there is never to be any impact on San Foca beach both during the construction process nor during pipeline operation". And that's not all, "we will be a major partner for the development of the Region, contributing towards its prosperity, to the creation of more employment, and making it a strategic area for Italy and for Europe", he adds, in regard to the decarbonization initiatives and support for local development through "targeted investments for tourism, fishing and agriculture".
Construction of the pipeline is going ahead and "all the authorizations received from the Italian authorities and the recent decision by the Italian Constitutional Court will allow project TAP to move ahead quickly from the current 57% accomplishment and reach 100%, expected for 2020", he confirms, recalling that "the other projects which make up the Southern Gas Corridor - the extension of the South Caucasus pipeline and the TANAP across Turkey - will become operational and begin to carry gas from Azerbaijan as early as 2018". "In phase one, TAP will deliver 8 billion cubic meters of gas to Italy, totaling approximately 12% of current Italian consumption. We therefore already need to plan phase two, which will make it possible to double supplies to Italy and to other countries, creating a positive impact on the price dynamics and on the safety of energy procurement. This will turn Italy into a gas hub for Europe, like the existing hubs in the Netherlands and in Austria. Thus Italy will continue to be the leader across Europe in the transportation of natural gas, both for road vehicles and sea vessels, and it will become a crossroads for transport networks and LNG terminals".