Azerbaijan, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro signed on Tuesday a memorandum of understanding on the development of the so called Southern Gas Corridor, Zagreb-based state-run broadcaster HRT reported.

Also on Tuesday, the Shah Deniz consortium announced the final investment decision (FID) for the second stage development of the Shah Deniz gas field in the Caspian Sea, offshore Azerbaijan.

The FID triggers plans to expand the South Caucasus Pipeline through Azerbaijan and Georgia, to build the Trans Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) across Turkey and to build the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) across Greece, Albania and into Italy. Together these projects, as well as gas transmission infrastructure to Bulgaria, will create a new Southern Gas Corridor to Europe, the Shah Deniz consortium said.

The Shah Deniz co-venturers are: BP, operator (28.8%), SOCAR (16.7%), Statoil (15.5%), Total (10%), Lukoil (10%), NICO (10%) and TPAO (9.0%).

The TANAP partners are expected to be: SOCAR, operator (68%), BOTAS (20%) and BP (12%) following the purchase of TANAP interests by BOTAS and BP that are expected to be completed in 2014.

The TAP partners are: SOCAR (20%), BP (20%), Statoil (20%), Fluxys (16%), Total (10%), E.ON (9.0%) and Axpo (5.0%).

In June, the Croatian foreign ministry said the countries participating in the TAP project as well as in the initiative for the Ionian Adriatic Pipeline would like, in cooperation with Azerbaijan, to enable the supply of Caspian and Azerbaijani gas to Europe and to connect TAP and IAP which would enable the gas supply to run from Greece to Albania and Italy and from Albania to the east coast of the Adriatic.

IAP is a proposed natural gas pipeline in the Western Balkans. It would run from Fier, in Albania, though Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, to Split in Croatia.

Following the announcement of the FID on Shah Deniz II, TAP said its shareholders confirmed that they have passed the Resolution to Construct on the development and construction of the project.

TAP will transport natural gas from Shah Deniz II to Europe along an approximately 870 kilometer long pipeline that will connect with TANAP near the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi, cross Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Southern Italy. TAP’s routing can facilitate gas supply to several South Eastern European countries, including Bulgaria, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and others.

Source: SeeNews