TAP endorses establishment of ALBGAS-DESFA joint venture
“TAP supports the establishment of a joint venture (JV) between AlbGaz and DESFA, which if established within the required time and reaches an agreement with TAP will enable safe and efficient pipeline operation and its maintenance after 2020”. This was the focus of the first official meeting between AlbGaz, a company created for the operation of the transmission system and the distribution of natural gas, and DESFA, the Greek operator of the transmission system of gas in Thessaloniki, Greece. The meeting was mediated by TAP.
DESFA President and Chief Executive Sotirios Nikas, opened the meeting by welcoming the participants in Greece and expressed the readiness of the company he heads to fully cooperate with AlbGaz.
In his speech, Klodian Gradeci, Chief Executive of AlbGaz thanked his Greek counterpart and presented a brief overview of how the company he heads was established.
Gradeci, also suggested the establishment of a dedicated working group to discuss issues related to the establishment of the Joint Venture.
The Thessaloniki meeting was followed by a visit to the Center of Operations and Maintenance DESFA’s in Nea Mesimvria, where DESFA representatives presented the activities of natural gas transmission in Greece and the technical characteristics of the Centre.
Participants also visited the compressor station of DESFA in the same location.
The last part of the visit was devoted to the training program of DESFA on competences and discussing how this program can help in the training of AlbGaz experts at a later stage.
DESFA and AlbGaz expressed their willingness to launch a program for staff training, in parallel with the discussions on the Joint Venture.
TAP, represented by Shkelqim Bozgo, TAP manager for Albania, Ioannis Skoufogiannis, asset and premisës manager for Greece, and Vugar Veysalov, Manager of Albanian Gas Market Development, welcomed the commitment of the parties to continue cooperation and reiterated the readiness of TAP to provide assistance whenever necessary.
TAP will transport natural gas from the giant Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to Europe. The approximately 878 km long pipeline will connect with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi, cross Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before 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 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.
TAP will promote economic development and job creation along the pipeline route; it will also be a major source of foreign direct investment. With first gas sales to Georgia and Turkey targeted for late 2018, first deliveries to Europe will follow around early 2020.
SCAN
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