Ekathimerini: Athens sees good news in the pipeline

Greek government officials expressed optimism on Tuesday that the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project will be Azerbaijan’s choice for the transmission of natural gas to Western Europe over rival Nabucco West, with the verdict from Baku to be delivered to Athens on Wednesday by representatives of the consortium operating the Shah Deniz reserve in the former Soviet republic.

In a climate of hopeful anticipation generated by favorable news reports for the pipeline that would pass through Greece, a mission led by British Petroleum’s vice president for Shah Deniz, Al Cook, and the president of the Azeri state energy company Socar, Rovnag Abdullayev (or his deputy Elshad Nasirov), will visit Greece on Wednesday to directly inform Prime Minister Antonis Samaras of Baku’s final choice.

Later in the day the mission will take part in a special event for the signing of the Host Government Agreement for the TAP project. It will be signed by Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras, Deputy Energy Minister Asimakis Papageorgiou and TAP Managing Director Kjetil Tungland.  MORE