The official ceremony for the Host Government Agreement for the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline was completed June 26 at the Grande Bretagne Hotel in Athens, signed by Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras and Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change, Makis Papageorgiou, and by TAP’s Managing Director, Kjetil Tungland.
Representatives of the consortium Shah Deniz in Azerbaijan met on the morning of June 26 with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, TAP will pass through Greece and was picked over the competing NabuccoWest for transporting Azerbaijani gas in Europe. Nabucco would have bypassed Greece.
TAP is a natural gas pipeline project. The pipeline will start in Greece, cross Albania and the Adriatic Sea and come ashore in southern Italy, allowing gas to flow directly from the Caspian region to European markets. TAP will be one of the largest sources of foreign direct investment in Greece, and is estimated to be worth 1.5 billion euros ($1.95 billion) to the Greek economy.
During construction, TAP is anticipated to create some 2,000 direct, and up to 10,000 indirect, new jobs across a number of industries including manufacturing and utilities, transport, communications and financial and business services. The project already collaborates with a number of Greek businesses and experts, and will seek to expand such cooperation in line with its commitment to Local Content.
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