Baku, March 30 (AZERTAC). On 28th March, 2013 the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project submitted a comprehensive transportation bid to the Shah Deniz 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. 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.

TAP will transport natural gas from the giant Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to the most attractive markets in Europe.

The pipeline will interconnect with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) near the Turkish-Greek border, cross Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea coming ashore in Southern Italy. TAP’s routing can facilitate gas supply to several South Eastern European countries including Bulgaria, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and others. TAP’s landfall in Italy, the third largest gas market in Europe, provides multiple opportunities for further transport of Caspian natural gas to some of the largest European markets such as Germany, France, the UK, Switzerland and Austria.

Designed to expand the capacity from 10 to 20 bcm per year, TAP will open up the so-called Southern Gas Corridor, which will enhance Europe's energy security by contributing to the diversification of the region's gas supplies.

TAP’s shareholders are Axpo of Switzerland (42.5%), Norway’s Statoil (42.5%) and E.ON Ruhrgas of Germany (15%).