TAP is the main sponsor of the exhibition “Urban Labyrinths” by Carla Molina, an Italian artist, which will be organized in Brindisi in the old tower of San Giacomo.

Statoil and  EGL today announced the successful financial close of E.ON Ruhrgas’s 15% shareholding  in the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project. 

During the month of April, TAP met with the Mayor of Brindisi and his team to further discuss the routing options that TAP has defined during its extensive route optimization that it undertook in 2009 in the Brindisi Area.

This month, TAP became a proud sponsor of the “Excavated! Swiss Archaeologists Explore the City of Eretria (Euboea)” exhibition in Greece, showing at the Archaeological Museum in Athens.  The exhibition is a clear demonstration of the importance of the preservation of cultural heritage in society.

In the second issue of E-news TAP reports on the selection of the optimum route option in Italy and Albania. George Hatzidakis, TAP's Communications Consultant in Athens, describes situation with natural gas legislation in Greece in  the article "Natural gas, energy security, and the opportunity for Greece". In the TAP's quarterly "thought piece" -  "What gas crisis?",  Arve Thorvik, TAP's Senior External Relations Advisor, explains why it is necessary to continue building gas pipelines in the current political and economic situation.

TAP met with a number of Ministers and officials in both Italy and Albania in January. “These meetings have shown that the TAP project is moving forward in a positive direction. All the various Ministers and Ministries have expressed a great deal of interest in the TAP pipeline and demonstrated a real willingness to support the project going forward,” says Michael Hoffmann, External Relations Director at TAP.

The Trans Adriatic Pipeline project completed registration of its permanent country offices in Greece, Albania and Italy. Country offices will support TAP in liaising with the authorities in the host countries, in preparing and submitting all necessary applications as well as in providing information about the project to the local public and media.

This week TAP held a press conference with key Italian media in Brindisi. The objective was to provide local stakeholders with an overview of the route refinement process.

The European Commission has awarded the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project the final payment of a grant it applied for in 2005. This is the second time the TAP project has received payment of a grant from the European Union, following the successful submission of a number of studies.  The first grant for TAP was approved in 2005 for the initial Feasibility Studies of the pipeline.

Robert Klein, Managing Director for TAP responds to RWE’s press release issued on 16.11.2009, saying “TAP’s total pipeline length is 520km. In addition, TAP will use existing pipeline infrastructure to transport gas from wellhead to market. As a result and when calculated accurately, TAP’s tariff, as well as its total cost of transport, would be lower than a 3300km new build pipeline such as Nabucco.”

As reported by the Italian media on 11 November 2009, Alfredo Mantica, the Italian Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, visited the Ministry of Petroleum & Energy in Norway on 11 November to discuss, among other things, the Southern Gas Corridor issues and pipeline projects such as the Trans Adriatic Pipeline.

The Swiss and Turkish governments made a joint statement on 5 November 2009 announcing that Turkey and Switzerland had signed a memorandum of understanding on the transfer of natural gas.

The recently formed Ministry of Energy, Environment & Climate Change in Greece issued a statement to the press on 4 November 2009, announcing that the Deputy Minister for Energy, Mr. Giannis Maniatis, had met representatives of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline project. At the meeting, TAP updated Mr. Maniatis on the status and progress of the TAP project.

TAP was one of the sponsors of this major event that took place in October in Athens, Greece. In addition, the event was attended by the TAP’s Commercial Department, which is responsible for obtaining all necessary authorizations and project financing, as well as for developing the commercial terms of gas transportation for the TAP project.

We are pleased to announce the publication of the first issue of e-News, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) quarterly electronic newsletter.

TAP started meetings with Italian agencies & authorities in the Apulia region to discuss the TAP project and preferred pipeline route proposal, which avoids Natura 2000 areas.

References made in articles on 14 April 2009, in the Greek media citing StatoilHydro’s apparent interest in the Poseidon project are incorrect. 

On 10th of March governments of Italy and Albania signed an agreement on energy cooperation promoting interconnection and integration of electric energy and natural gas systems in both countries.

Board of Directors and management of the TAP project held official meetings with representatives of the Albanian government  in Tirana.