E.ON Ruhrgas takes stake in TAP pipeline

Offshore staff

BRUSSELS -- Statoil and the Swiss EGL Group have famed out a 15% interest in the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project to Germany’s E.ON Ruhrgas.

TAP is a proposed 520-km (323-mi) long pipeline transporting gas from the Caspian Sea and Middle East regions to Europe. It will start near Thessaloniki in Greece, traveling through Albania before heading west across the Adriatic Sea, entering the Italian mainland at the port of Brindisi.

It will have capacity of 10 bcm (353 bcf), expandable to 20 bcm (706 bcm). The project is supported by the European Union.

Rune Bjørnson, executive vice president for Natural Gas at Statoil said his company, as a participant in the Shah Deniz gas development in the Azeri sector of the Caspian Sea, was “delighted to note the recent positive developments with regards to a potential gas package deal between Turkey and Azerbaijan. Such an agreement will pave the way for the development of new gas resources to the European market in which Statoil will be a key provider."

Jochen Weise, member of the Board of Directors and head of Gas Supply for E.ON Ruhrgas said: "By joining TAP we are enabling our company to place its already well diversified supply portfolio on an even broader foundation in the future, thus making an important contribution to security of supply in Europe and particularly, in southern and southeastern Europe.”

Due to regulatory requirements, the deal is expected to be concluded by the end of June 2010.