Greece Eyes $2 Billion Investment, 2,000 New Jobs From Europe Gas Pipeline Deal
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The governments of Greece, Albania and Italy on Wednesday signed a trilateral agreement to build a Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) for Europe, as part of efforts to diversify the region’s natural gas supply away from Russian reliance, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The governments of Greece, Albania and Italy on Wednesday signed a trilateral agreement to build a Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) for Europe, as part of efforts to diversify the region’s natural gas supply away from Russian reliance, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The proposed project, which “will turn Greece from a second-tier energy destination into a strategic transit point,” according to Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, will run 800km from Azerbaijan into Western Europe; and supply nearly 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually to the continent, which currently obtains nearly 45 percent of its gas imports from Russia.
Samaras said that the TAP would bring over 1.5 billion euros ($2.01 billion) in investments to Greece; and create over 2,000 new jobs “in areas suffering from unemployment,” the PM added.
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“A new energy corridor will appear on Europe’s energy map, which has serious competitive advantages in comparison with other variants being considered,” the Prime Minister said, according to the Voice of Russia.
[quote]”The importance of this project will go beyond the borders (of the three countries) to establish the safety of Europe’s energy supply,” he said, as cited by AFP.[/quote]Roughly 478 kilometres of the pipeline will be running on Greek soil. The venture will be run by a consortium comprising of Norway’s Statoil, Axpo of Switzerland and Germany’s E.ON Ruhrgas – in the hopes of compete with the Turkey-Austria Nabucco pipeline, which bypasses Greece.
Samaras stressed that TAP would be shorter, cheaper and run through fewer countries than Nabucco.
[quote]”The common interests of the three countries and the development of the opportunities that are on offer…can have very favourable consequences that will go beyond the region,” he added.[/quote]TAP is also expected to boost Europe’s energy security as it creates a southern route for natural gas coming from the Caspian Sea by bypassing Russia.
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According to AFP, Russia has, in the last six years, twice blocked gas deliveries to Europe across Ukraine, because of disagreements over debts and gas prices.
“We are giving political support to a project of strategic importance for Greece, but also for Europe’s energy policy,” noted Samaras.
