On 28th March, 2013 the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project
submitted a comprehensive transportation bid (known as the Decision Support
Package or DSP) to the Shah Deniz consortium (The Consortium). Building on the
information that TAP provided in October 2011, the DSP will be assessed by the
Shah Deniz consortium as part of the project selection process. The
Consortium’s decision on which pipeline will be selected to open the Southern
Gas Corridor is expected in June of this year.
The completion of
TAP’s Front End Engineering Design (FEED) in March this year represents one of
the key components of the DSP. TAP’s submission responds directly to the eight
selection criteria defined by The Consortium: commerciality, project
deliverability, scalability, operability, financial deliverability, engineering
design, alignment and transparency, and public policy
considerations.
TAP’s proposal
therefore includes hundreds of documents ranging from technical to commercial,
financial to environmental, and from government policy to Corporate Social
Responsibility and stakeholder management.
Kjetil Tungland, TAP’s
Managing Director, said: “We are
confident that our project has submitted the most compelling offer and in doing
so, successfully meets the eight selection criteria set out by The Consortium.
Since being selected as Shah Deniz’s preferred southern route option in
February 2012, TAP has made tremendous progress, achieving several major
milestones. The most notable achievement, being the recent signing of the
Intergovernmental Agreement between Italy, Greece and Albania on 13th
February 2013. TAP can now rely on a strong and robust legal framework to the
satisfaction of project investors and The Consortium.”
He added: “TAP’s
characteristics remain unrivalled: our shareholders are world leading energy
companies; TAP is the shortest and most direct solution, and consequently the
most technically and commercially viable option; TAP is easily scalable from
10bcm to 20bcm; and most critically does not require any public subsidies or
grants to be built. TAP’s routing and easy expansion allows TAP to supply more
gas to several markets in South Eastern Europe and Northern Europe, as and when
more volumes become available. Our pipeline is truly designed with the future
in mind.”
TAP’s collaboration
with the Shah Deniz consortium has been excellent. In February 2012, TAP was
the first pipeline to be pre-selected and enter into exclusive negotiations. In
June 2012, Shah Deniz partners BP, SOCAR and Total signed a Cooperation
Agreement with TAP, followed in August 2012 by a Funding and Equity Agreement
with an option to take a 50% equity stake in the project. Finally, in November
2012 TAP shareholders and SOCAR, BP and Total concluded a Shareholder Agreement
defining how the TAP Joint Venture would be governed with members of the Shah
Deniz Consortium if TAP is selected in June.