U.S. distances itself from support to TAP, Nabucco pipelines

TIRANA, Jan. 16 – With few months to go before Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz II consortium decides on the consortium that will be selected to transport Caspian gas to Western Europe, the U.S State Department has distanced itself from public support to the two competing projects, the TAP pipeline which also includes Albania in its route and the Nabucco West ending in Austria. The conformation comes after U.S Republican Senator Richard Lugar concluded in a report submitted to the U.S congress that the Nabucco West project has a bigger strategic advantage because of reducing dependency on Russian gas in the countries where it passes.
A U.S State Department spokesperson told the Voice of America in the local Albanian service that the United States supports the construction of the Southern Gas Corridor but does not have a stance in supporting a specific route.
Neil Brown, an advisor to the United States Senate senior Republican, Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, says Nabucco West which passes Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary to end up in Austria will send gas to countries which have a huge dependency on Russian gas. “In some of these countries Russia almost has a monopoly position and after few years these countries will be under great pressure to re-sign long-term contracts. According to our study, the Nabbuco West route offers a bigger advantage in the mid- and long-term,” he told VoA.
“TAP is believed to offer better commercial conditions for the companies which will explore gas in the Shah Deniz field. However, it is sure that the Nabucco West has bigger political support including the support of the countries where it passes, the European Union and the United States,” said Brown.
Considered as the shortest and most economical route to bring Caspian gas to Europe, Albania officials hope the Shah Deniz consortium will decide on the Trans Adiatic Pipeline as the winning project.
If selected as the winning pipeline to bring Caspian gas to Western Europe, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which also includes Albania in its itinerary, would have a major impact on the contribution to GDP, number of jobs created and tax revenues raised, a study conducted by Oxford Economics has found out. During its scheduled four years of construction from 2015 to 2018, TAP will contribute a total of Euro 370 million to the Albanian GDP, create on average 9,900 jobs per year and generate Euro 80 million for the country’s treasury.
Italy, Greece and Albania have already confirmed their political support for TAP with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in New York. Italy and Greece have decided to back the TAP project after Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz II consortium, led by BP and Statoil, chose TAP and Nabucco West as the two pipelines that would be used to transport gas to Western Europe.
Albanian experts have described TAP as an opportunity that would benefit Albania both economically and politically, making it an important hub of the international gas pipeline for the Western Balkans.
TAP aims to become operational in 2017 and would carry 10 billion cubic metres (bcm) of Caspian gas a year and be scalable to a maximum capacity of 20 bcm.
TAP’s partners are Statoil, Swiss EGL and Germany’s E.ON Ruhrgas who say that the pipeline could create thousands of jobs.
The passing of the oil pipeline through Albania would also pave the way for the construction of the Ionian-Adriatic pipeline making Albania a gas hub to other Balkan regional countries.
Entering from Greece at Miras in the Kor衠region, the Albanian section of the route stretches a total of 209km to the coast, north-west of Fier. The offshore section will be 60km in length, crossing the Adriatic Sea entering southern Italy.