Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Friday gave Italy’s final approval to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), a project which had been strongly contested by the 5-Star Movement, one of the two parties in the ruling coalition.
“It’s no longer possible to intervene in this project, which was planned by previous governments and carries contractual constraints,” Conte said in a statement.
Interrupting the process would involve “unsustainable costs of tens of billions of euros,” he added.
TAP worth 4.5 billion euros is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union. The project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz Stage 2 to the EU countries.
The pipeline will connect to the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy’s south.
TAP will be 878 kilometers in length (Greece 550 kilometers, Albania 215 kilometers, Adriatic Sea 105 kilometers, and Italy 8 kilometers).
TAP’s shareholding is comprised of BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagás (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).
