ZUG, Switzerland, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- The Trans Adriatic pipeline, slated for Azeri gas, is on schedule for construction through a European corridor by 2015, the pipeline's managing director said.
"TAP is progressing smoothly in full alignment with the development of the Shah Deniz 2 in Azerbaijan," Managing Director Kjetil Tungland said in an interview with the online AzerNews, published Tuesday.
A BP-led consortium working in the second phase of the Shah Deniz natural gas field off the coast of Azerbaijan selected TAP as its conduit for European consumers in June.
The project is part of the so-called Southern Gas Corridor, a network of pipelines planned to add diversity to a European market dependent on Russian natural gas.
Tungland said he expects host countries Albania, Greece and Italy to ratify intergovernmental agreements in time for preliminary construction work through the region by next year. Construction of the pipeline itself is slated for 2015.
TAP will connect to a pipeline near the Turkish border with Greece and cross through the Adriatic Sea before it heads to European markets from Italy. The project will deliver more than 350 billion cubic feet of natural gas to European markets when it goes online in 2019.
