Albaniahails pipeline deal with Greece, Italy

TIRANA, Feb. 13 – Tirana hailed the agreement signed with neighboring Greece and nearbyItaly on the Trans-Adriatic pipeline.
Greece, Italy and Albania signed an agreement Wednesday, backing a proposed pipeline to transport natural gas from the Caspian Sea to Western Europe.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha considered the agreement “of an extraordinary importance” helping Albanians with employment and cheaper energy for heating and cooking.
“The country’s energetic potential is multiplied. It turns Albania into a center of gas distribution for northern Balkans,” he said at a cabinet meeting.
The 800-kilometer (500-mile) Trans-Adriatic pipeline system would have an initial annual capacity of 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Azerbaijan. The venture is run by consortium comprised by Germany’s E.ON Ruhrgas, Norway’s Statoil and the Swiss-based Axpo group.
The agreement was signed by Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos, along with Albanian Financeand Energy Minister Edmond Haxhinasto and Italian Development Minister Corrado Passera, while representatives of the Azerbaijani government also attended the ceremony.
“This is an important step for the diversification of Europe’s energy supply and accessby Azerbaijan to Europe’s market,” Passera said.
Kjetil Tungland, TAP’s Managing Director, said the venture would spur other growth-boosting projects in Greece.
“Projects like TAP signal confidence for other investors,” Tungland said.
TAP is widely seenas a competitor of the Nabucco West pipeline, a separate proposed project that would transport gas to Austria via Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary. Both are vying for the right to transport natural gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz gas field to Western Europe by 2019.
The Shah Deniz gas producers will decide in June which route to use to export their gas to Europe.
TAP officials on Wednesday said they did not yet have an estimate of the total cost of the project and added that, if selected, construction ofthe pipeline would start in 2015. The pipeline’s annual capacity could be doubled to 20 billion cubic meters, they said.
European governments are keen to bring Azeri gas to their markets, and ease current domination by Russia.
The TAP route would connect with a pipeline in Turkey and cover 478 kilometers (297.03 miles) in Greece, 209 kilometers (129.87 miles) in Albania, and include a 105-kilometer (65-miles) undersea section before reaching southern Italy. It would run as deep as 810 meters (2,650 feet) below the surface of the Adriatic Sea.
The Nabucco pipeline, which would only run across land, would extend for 1,300 kilometers (808 miles).
EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger welcomedthe signature of a tri-lateral intergovernmental agreement between Albania, Greece and Italy as an essential step in the preparation of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline project (TAP). TAP is an important gas pipeline with a starting capacity of minimum 10 billion cubic meters per annum , he noted in a statement.
“This pipeline is instrumental to connect the gas markets of Italy and Greece and to bring gas to Albania . It could be among the first components of the Southern Gas Corridor which aims at linking directly the European Union with the rich gas sources in the Caspian Region,” he noted.