Page 15 - FSUOGM Week 42

FSUOGM PIPELINES & TRANSPORT FSUOGM

TAP gas pipeline still set

for 2020 launch: BP

SOUTH EUROPE BP has confirmed that the Trans-Adriatic Pipe- SGC and other strategic oil and gas infrastruc-
line (TAP) is still on track to deliver the first gas ture in the area, and BP also said earlier this
There has been intense from Azerbaijan to Europe by the end of this month it was beefing up security at its facilities
fighting over the last year, as the UK oil major looks to quell con- in Azerbaijan.
three weeks between cerns of a delay amid continued fighting in the In a statement on October 13, BP said the
Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh region. commissioning of TAP and an interconnecting
Armenia. TAP is the third and final section of the pipeline would be completed in November. This
Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) network of pipe- “will allow the Shah Deniz consortium to finalise
lines designed to carry gas from the BP-operated the final steps required to start the 25-year-long
Shah Deniz field offshore Azerbaijan to custom- supplies of natural gas from Azerbaijan to cus-
ers in Turkey and southern Europe. Its mid-sec- tomers in Italy, Greece and Bulgaria as planned
tion, the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP), by the end of 2020.”
began flowing gas to Turkey in 2018. NewsBase has written before that Armenia
TAP runs from the Greek-Turkish border is unlikely to target Azeri oil and gas pipelines
through Greece, Albania and under the Adri- intentionally, unless there is a significant esca-
atic Sea to Italy. It was due to start up earlier lation of the conflict. If a disruption to its oil
this year, but the launch was delayed amid and gas exports were to occur, the impact on
environmental opposition to construction currently oversupplied markets would be “man-
in Italy and later coronavirus (COVID-19) ageable,” the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
related disruptions. (OIES) concluded in a recent report. The more
The TAP operating consortium, of which BP serious impact would be on Azeri finances,
is a member, asked Italian regulators in July for already crippled by the collapse in global oil
permission to push the start date back beyond prices.
2020, in case of unforeseen circumstances. But it Turkey would be able to replace lost Azeri
insisted that the target was still to start gas flows shipments with piped gas from Russia and Iran,
before year-end. The pipeline is 98% complete, as well as LNG. However, Georgia, which gets
TAP said in its latest update. almost all its gas from Azerbaijan and lacks stor-
There has been intense fighting over the last age capacity, would have to take the “geopoliti-
three weeks between Azerbaijan and Armenia cally hard decision” to buy emergency volumes
over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory. with Russia. Relations between Russia and Geor-
Azeri national oil company (NOC) SOCAR gia have remained tense since their joint conflict
warned recently that the conflict posed a risk to in 2008.™

Week 42 21•October•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P15