TAP pipeline good for Greece

A planned natural gas pipeline for southern Europe will deliver billions of dollars of foreign investments to the embattled Greek economy, an official says.The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline is up against the Interconnector Turkey-Greece and other projects included in Europe's so-called Southern Corridor.Lisa Givert, a spokeswoman for the TAP consortium, told online news magazine New Europe that TAP was committed to building the pipeline through Greece. She said an anticipated breakthrough for gas from Azerbaijan "underlines the strength of our project which will bring in excess of $1.4 billion of foreign direct investment to Greece and enhances job creation in the country."The European community is pushing for a network of pipelines in the Southern Corridor that rely on some of the natural gas available in Azerbaijan.Directors with BP managing the Shah Deniz natural gas field in Azerbaijan are expecting proposals Oct. 1 from pipeline groups anticipating natural gas for their project. TAP would move natural gas from the Caspian region to European markets. It would start near Thessaloniki, Greece, go through the Adriatic Sea and reach shore in southern Italy. TAP could come online by the time developers start shipping gas from the Shah Deniz II gas field in Azerbaijan in 2017.