Greece comitted to realize TAP

Greece's Foreign Minister, Dimitris Avramopoulos, expressed the Greek government's commitment to realizing the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) as the southern gas transport route into Europe at a meeting today with Kjetil Tungland, TAP's Managing Director, and Michael Hoffmann, External Affairs Director, the TAP official website reported on Tuesday.

"The Greek government confirmed to us today its strong interest in ensuring that the TAP project is implemented, a position that we welcome. This is just a further step in the good and productive relationship TAP has had with the Greek government and the country's authorities throughout the project's development," Kjeitl Tungland said.

"We are confident that the enduring partnership that has developed among all parties involved will continue to grow and provide the best possible solution for the completion of the Southern Corridor, which will benefit both Europe and Greece," he added.

TAP is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy and further into Western Europe. TAP's initial pipeline capacity will be 10 billion cubic metres per year, expandable to 20 billion cubic metres per year. TAP's shareholders are EGL of Switzerland (42.5 percent), Norway's Statoil (42.5 percent) and E.ON Ruhrgas of Germany (15 percent).


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