TIRANA (Albania), November 15 (SeeNews) – The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) consortium said on Wednesday it signed a Letter of Intent marking the finalisation of negotiations for a maintenance agreement between TAP and a joint venture comprising Albanian gas operator Albgaz and Italian gas infrastructure company Snam.
The joint venture will establish a special purpose entity to act as the maintenance service provider for TAP on the territory of Albania, the consortium said in a press release, following a signing ceremony held in Tirana, attended by TAP managing director Luca Schieppati, Albanian energy minister Damian Gjiknuri as well as Albgaz and Snam management.
“I am very pleased to be here today to mark another step forward in putting further pieces of this strategic infrastructure in place, bringing us to a successful start of operations in 2020,” Schieppati said, adding that TAP is proud to be contributing to the development of the Albanian gas market. “We look forward to supporting and working together with the soon to be established maintenance service provider”.
"TAP is confident that the Albgaz/Snam JV established special purpose entity will ensure the safe and efficient maintenance of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline in Albania, following first gas in 2020,” the statement added.
TAP project is nearly 82% completed and construction work is well underway, the consortium said earlier this week.
Last month, TAP said it launched construction works in Albania for the 105km offshore section across the Adriatic Sea that will link the gas pipeline to Italy’s transmission network.
Connecting with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at Greece's border with Turkey, TAP will stretch across northern Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea before reaching Italy's coast where it will connect to the Italian natural gas network.
TAP is part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which also comprises the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) crossing Azerbaijan and Georgia, and TANAP.
The shareholders of TAP are BP, Azerbaijan’s state company Socar and Italy’s Snam with 20% each, Belgium’s Fluxys with 19%, Spain’s Enagas with 16% and Swiss-based Axpo with 5%.