Shah Deniz partners take stake in TAP

LONDON - Reuters

The oil companies developing a large Azeri gas project, Shah Deniz II, and Belgian gas grid operator Fluxys said they had taken stakes in the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which will transport the gas to Europe.

Last month, Shah Deniz II partners BP, Azeri state oil company SOCAR, Total and Statoil, which was already a TAP shareholder, chose TAP over its Austria-based rival Nabucco West.

TAP said at the time that SOCAR, BP, Total and Fluxys would join the project. Fluxys said yesterday it now holds 16 percent. BP, SOCAR and Statoil said each own 20 percent and Total 10 percent.

Initial TAP owners E.ON and Axpo have reduced their stakes to 9 percent and 5 percent, respectively, from the 15 percent and 42.5 percent they originally owned.

Beginning in 2019, the TAP plans to deliver 10 bcm of gas from Shah Deniz II, one of the world’s largest gas fields with an expected investment of more than $40 billion including pipelines, each year. A Turkish pipeline will carry the Azeri gas from the Caspian Sea and link to TAP, which will extend to southern Italy via Greece and Albania.

Fluxys and Italian equivalent Snam also are jointly developing projects to increase gas exchange between northern and southern Europe.