Croatia hails selection of TAP route for gas delivery to Europe

Croatia has welcomed the decision of the consortium developing Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas field to select the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) to ship Azeri ...

(Hina) - Croatia has welcomed the decision of the consortium developing Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas field to select the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) to ship Azeri gas to European destinations, the foreign ministry said in a press release.

The ministry views the energy linking of the Caspian region with Europe through the TAP project as an important moment not only for the southeast of Europe but also for the entire continent.

Croatia is committed to actively contributing to the European policy of energy security through the development of projects such as the Ionian-Adriatic Project and the LNG project on the Croatian island of Krk, according to the ministry's statement.

Croatia has always been an active proponent of the policy of energy diversification, the ministry recalls.

Also on Friday, Economy Minister Ivan Vrdoljak hailed the choice of the TAP route.

Croatia is becoming a geo-strategic country which will have a section of a trunk pipeline for gas provisions to Europe, Vrdoljak said in Rijeka.

The Trans Adriatic Pipeline is a project to transport natural gas from the Caspian sea (Azerbaijan), starting from Greece via Albania and the Adriatic Sea to Italy and further to Western Europe.

The Shah Deniz consortium on Friday told a press conference in Baku, Azerbaijan that it had selected the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project for the supply of gas to Europe which Croatia too supports. TAP's shareholders include the Swiss Axpo, Norwegian Statoil and German E.ON companies which competed for the project to supply Azerbaijani gas to Europe against an offer by the Nabucco West consortium headed by the Austrian OMV oil company. The Austrian consortium on Wednesday announced that the Nabucco West offer was not selected.

The Shah Deniz consortium, headed by British Petroleum (BP), is developing gas fields in the Caspian Sea as part of the Shah Deniz II project, valued at over US$ 40 billion. In addition to BP, the consortium consists of Statoil and the Azerbaijan state-owned SOCAR, along with Russia's Lukoil.

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