Salvini, Blair to discuss Trans-Adriatic Pipeline

By  Trend

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini intends to meet in Rome with Tony Blair, advising on the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, which is designed to transport natural gas from Azerbaijan to Europe, The Guardian reported.

"Italy's rightwing Interior Minister Matteo Salvini will meet with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Rome to discuss a controversial extension plan for the gas pipeline that will run from Azerbaijan to Apulia in southern Italy," the newspaper says.

The date of this meeting is not specified in the article.

TAP project, worth 4.5 billion euros, is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union (EU), and has already attracted 1.5 billion euros from the European Investment Bank (EIB), which approved the loan in early February 2018.

Connecting with the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) at the Greek-Turkish border, TAP will cross Northern Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea before coming ashore in Southern Italy to connect to the Italian natural gas network.

The project is currently in its construction phase, which started in 2016.

Once built, TAP will offer a direct and cost-effective transportation route opening up the vital Southern Gas Corridor, a 3,500-kilometer long gas value chain stretching from the Caspian Sea to Europe.

TAP shareholders include BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).