Greece, Italy and Albania have formed a trilateral cooperation committee that will oversee their support of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline gas link, Greece's Energy Ministry said Saturday.
In a meeting in Rome, ministers from the pipeline's three host countries agreed to form the committee in order to create "the necessary framework for their coordinated efforts to ensure [TAP's] selection, on-time delivery and efficient operation," a ministry statement said.
The committee will also facilitate communication between the three governments and their various departments responsible for supporting the project and work towards "ensuring that TAP plays a role in the diversification of gas supply sources in southeastern Europe and the western Balkans."
"The benefits TAP will bring to the wider region on a level of energy security have firmed out political commitment to its creation," Greek Energy Deputy Minister Makis Papayeorgiou, who represented Greece in the meeting, said.
Italy's representative, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Claudio de Vincenti, said the three governments were "convinced by the benefits TAP would bring to each host country, in southeastern Europe and, more widely, in the European natural gas market, and we will carry on cooperating towards making [TAP] a reality."
Albanian Deputy Foreign Minister, Edith Harxhi, said the committee's formation "forms a prime political step towards the final stage in the Shah Deniz consortium's decision" on which pipeline project will serve the Southern Corridor gas route.
The 20 billion cubic meter/year TAP pipeline, being developed by a consortium of Switzerland's Axpo (42.5%), Norway's Statoil (42.5%) and Germany's E.ON Ruhrgas (15%), plans to transit Azeri gas via Greece and Albania, and then across the Adriatic to Italy and further into Europe.
It is one of two pipeline projects competing to carry gas from the second phase of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas field to Europe.
The rival 31 Bcm/yr Nabucco West project, being developed by a consortium of MOL, Transgaz, Bulgargaz, Botas and RWE, plans to carry the gas via Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary to the Baumgarten entry point in Austria.