A BP Plc-led group has broken ground on a project to pipe natural gas from Phase 2 of the Shah Deniz project in Azerbaijan to Italy, offering the European Union an alternative to Russian supplies.
The 3500 km (2175 mile) corridor will include three pipelines connecting BP’s Sangachal terminal south of Baku, the Azeri capital, with southern Italy via Georgia, Turkey and Greece. Construction is due to be completed in 2018 with first gas deliveries to Europe planned for the following year.
“The crisis in Ukraine highlighted the issue of European energy security,” Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev said before the ceremony in Baku. “The South Gas Corridor will finally end our dependence on a single pipeline.”
BP’s partners in the project include State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan, or Socar, Norway’s Statoil ASA, Iran’s Naftiran Intertrade Co., Turkey’s Turkiye Petrolleri AO, and OAO Lukoil.
Edited from various sources by Elizabeth Corner
Sources: Bloomberg, Energy Voice