TAP Gaining Momentum from Closer Regional Cooperation
The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline project (TAP), has recently received a boost to its plans to secure the Southern Corridor, due to the increased cooperation by the three interested countries, namely Italy, Greece and Albania.
More specifically, since mid-August 2012 the Greek Ministry of Foreign affairs and the Ministry for energy have been in contact for the signing along with Albania and Italy of an intergovernmental agreement of support for TAP. The draft of the agreement after various tripartite negotiations has been written down and is being consulted amongst the partners. In parallel the Albanian foreign Minister Edmond Panariti is due to visit Athens on the 5th of October to meet with his Greek counterpart Dimitris Avramopoulos and agree on the finishing details, before the agreement is made known in public and delivered both to the EU authorities and the Shah Deniz consortium and to the government of Azerbaijan.
Between Athens and Tirana an intergovernmental agreement for the details of their bordering Exclusive Economic Zones remains to be solved, nevertheless, the latest information point out that both sides are very close to agreement. Panariti has recently presented in the Albanian Parliament his estimations for the resolution and the importance of that for the energy security of Albania through TAP's success.
Moreover, the Italian authorities, mainly through their Embassy in Athens are pushing forward for the intergovernmental agreement which they presume will be a decisive factor for the success of the project. A leading member of the Greek-Italian chamber of commerce commented that "TAP will be a crucial step for the elevation of energy and business cooperation between Italy and Greece and the Adriatic region as well". Similar views are being heard in the entire political and business spectrum and even the reluctant until recently DEPA is pushing forward in participating as minor partner in TAP.
In that case though, DEPA has to move forward since BP and SOCAR are to participate as well by buying share from Statoil, EON and EGL thus it is likely that DEPA will be left with a percentage as little as 5%, much less from its original planning for an at least 15% share in the project. In this respect the impeding privatization of DEPA may play its role regarding TAP's culminations, since major contesters for the privatization, such as SOCAR or ENI have both direct and indirect interests both in the Southern Corridor.
The Greek Premier Antonis Samaras, that takes charge of all gas initiatives being discussed, has announced in mid-September that DEPA's privatization is likely to happen in mid-January 2013 and this presumably signals the involvement of the Greek government to tangle the privatization with an enchased participation of DEPA into TAP, as well as, raising the price tag of the company in a moment where the crucial decisions for the Southern Corridor are to be made.
Lastly it is of importance to note that the Greek government through its Minister of Development, Kostis Chatzidakis, has agreed for a joint Greek-Russian Ministerial forum to be held in Athens in November and centered on bilateral energy affairs, which in this case revolve around the South Stream. Thus in the coming weeks the tactic of the Greek gas policy would be to simultaneously upgrade its involvement in the Southern Corridor by leveraging its position along the interests of its immediate partners in TAP and the producing countries of Azerbaijan and Russia.