The intergovernmental agreement for
the building of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) gas project that will link
Italy
,
Greece
and
Albania
will be signed on Friday, an
Italian government source said on Wednesday.
"The
signature is imminent, it will be done in
New York
," the source said, adding
representatives of the three countries would be attending a United Nations
meeting.
TAP is one
of a number of competing projects to carry gas from
Azerbaijan
's Shah Deniz II field to
Europe
which is keen to reduce its
dependence on existing suppliers including
Russia
.
TAP's
shareholders are EGL of Switzerland (42.5 percent),
Norway
's Statoil (42.5 percent) and E.ON
Ruhrgas of
Germany
(15 percent).
Italian
utility Enel has shown an interest in the project.