Speeding up procedures for the approval of the transfer of a majority stake in DESFA (Natural Gas System Operator) to Socar and the beginning of construction works of a Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) natural gas network according to set timetables, were the focus of talks held on Monday on the occasion of an official visit by Azeri President Ilham Aliyev to Athens.
In his meetings with President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias and Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, Azerbaijan's president discussed energy cooperation between Greece and Azerbaijan, a strategic cooperation between Azerbaijan and the European Union and the role of Greece as an entry gate of Azeri energy raw materials to the EU, amidst a crisis in the Ukraine.
TAP will transport natural gas from Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan through Turkey, Greece and Albania to Italy
The two sides agreed on the need to avoid any delays in Brussels for the completion of the transaction. Greece has agreed to sell 66 pct of DESFA to Socar for 400 million euros. The transaction needs approval from the European Commission.
The TAP pipeline will have an initial transport ability of 10 billion cubic metres of gas annually, with the investment in the Greek part of the pipeline (with a length of 870 klm) totalling 1.5 billion euros. The project will create 2,000 direct and 10,000 indirect job positions. TAP’s shareholders are BP (20 pct), Socar (20 pct), Statoil (20 pct), Fluxys (16 pct), Total (10 pct), E.ON (9.0 pct) and Axpo (5.0 pct).
Aliyev, who is paying an official visit to Athens by invitation of President Papoulias, said that his second visit to Greece demonstrated the high level of the relations and cooperation between the two countries, particularly in the energy sector, while Papoulias mentioned that relations between the two countries had strengthened and pointed to the teaching of Greek language at the Baku Slavic University.
Source: ANA-MPA
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