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TAP Executive Director: â€œWe are better placed than ever before to win the contract to transport the gasâ€

13 January 2012 11:03 (UTC +04:00)

According to him, TAP submitted its preliminary Environmental and Social Impact Assessments to each of the relevant authorities in the transit countries that it will cross. At every stage we have met the projectâ€™s strict schedule, submitting all necessary applications on time, including the Third Party Access Exemption.

Over the course of the year, TAP also signed five MoUs, most notably with the Ionian Adriatic Pipeline shareholders, solidifying our commitment to laying the foundations for gas transportation to South Eastern European countries. Furthermore, in a clear demonstration of the project’s commitment to Greece, our shareholders decided in August to extend the pipeline in the country by an additional 300 kilometres. The TAP project will commit some â‚¬1.5 billion of inward investment and create approximately 2,000 jobs in Greece. Indeed, at a time of grave financial crisis in the country, TAP will be the biggest foreign direct investment on offer in Greece in recent years.

All of this work culminated on the 1st of October, with the presentation of TAPâ€™s 1,000 page bid to the Shah Deniz consortium. While we await a formal response, the signs are positive, not least in terms of the support we have received from political stakeholders.

On the 27th of October, TAP hosted the first South Eastern Europe Gas Forum in Brussels. In front of more than 80 participants from various governments, European institutions and businesses, GÃ¼nther Oettinger, the European Commissioner for Energy stated that â€œthe Commission is ready to support TAP and any other project developer that works to improve the network in South Eastern Europeâ€.

Ultimately of course, the decision on who will be the winner in this historic race will come down to the Shah Deniz consortium and the Shah Deniz consortium alone. However, as we begin 2012, in earnest my feeling is that TAP is better placed than ever before to win the contract to transport the gas. We have demonstrated categorically that our project is the most viable â€“ in terms of financing, in terms of technical capability, in terms of route selection and in terms of environmental and social impact.