Azeri state oil company SOCAR has said it is willing in principle to sell a portion of its holdings in the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project to Greek entities.
“If Greece wants to buy a share, we are ready to sell it,” Azeri news agencies quoted SOCAR Vice-Presiden Elshad Nassirov as telling reporters on February 16. “But the main requirement for the Greek side is that it must settle the account on time. We want this pipeline to be more ‘Greek’, and our wishes coincide. Another issue is to find a solvent company that will not lead to a delay in the construction of the pipeline and the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project,” he added.
“We contact the new Greek government, the ministry, companies. And if there will be any possibility to contribute to the Greece's economy developing more intensively through this project, we are ready to use it,” he said.
Greece’s new Syriza-led government has changed the country’s stance on TAP as it specifically tries to enhance the role of Greece in terms of extracting benefits for the state budget along with further energy security guarantees.
Greece’s new Minister of Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy Panagiotis Lafazanis, who has highlighted TAP’s importance for Greece, visited Baku on February 12 where he participated in the first Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council.
At the same time, the European Commission is reviewing the deal on purchasing 66% of share in Greek DESFA gas transmission system operator by SOCAR.
TAP, which planned to stretch from Greece via Albania and the Adriatic Sea to Italy, along with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) is part of the Southern Gas Corridor designed to bring the natural gas to Europe from the Shah Deniz offshore gas field in Azerbaijan.
TAP’s shareholding is comprised of BP (20%), SOCAR (20%), Statoil (20%), Fluxys (19%), Enagas (16%) and Axpo (5%). Construction of TAP is planned to begin in 2016. The first volume of gas from the Shah Deniz-2 is expected to reach the European market in 2019.
Speaking about possible discount in gas price for Greece, Nassirov said currently, it is impossible to reduce for Greece the price of Azerbaijan’s gas to be purchased and delivered to that country via TAP.
Nassirov said first of all, such a decline in prices doesn’t correspond to international practice. “A contract was signed with Greece for 25 years. According to contract, there are provisions about possibility of negotiations regarding change of purchase and sale price of gas. This can happen when sharp changes are observed in the market. However, this can be after gas supply. As Greek side does not buy gas yet, any price change is out of question,” Nassirov said.
He added that the reduction in purchase prices depends neither on the Greek nor on the Azeri side.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/no-discount-socar-open-selling-tap-stake-greece