Petronas Could Buy Statoil's Stake in TAP

Malaysia’s Petronas could acquire Statoil’s stake in the Trans Adriatic Pipeline project, known as TAP, reported new agency Bloomberg Tuesday.

Petronas may pick up Statoil’s 20 percent stake, sources told the news agency.

In July, president of Azeri state energy firm SOCAR told ANS TV Statoil has decided to leave the TAP project completely, and there is a company which is ready to buy its stake.

However, Bloomberg reported that no final decision has been made and Petronas may choose not to pursue the acquisition.

TAP will transport natural gas from Azerbaijan to Europe. Connecting with the Trans Anatolian 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 implementation phase and is preparing for construction of the pipeline, which is planned to begin in 2016 and likely to be complete by 2020.

Once built, TAP will offer a direct route opening up the Southern Gas Corridor.

TAP's current shareholders are BP (20 percent), the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) (20 percent), Norway's Statoil (20 percent), Belgium's Fluxys (19 percent), Spain's Enagas (16 percent) and Swiss company Axpo (5 percent).