Pipeline project would boost energy security

All pipelines in the ‘southern gas corridor’ must be considered on a level playing-field.

Your article “Pipeline projects vie for gas and for cash” (28 October-3 November) suggested that by implementing the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the Balkans and eastern Europe could be left vulnerable to Russian influence via the South Stream pipeline.

I would like to make it clear that, in fact, TAP has plans that would address security concerns in south-east Europe in several ways. First, TAP’s shareholders are considering supplying up to 1 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas to the Albanian market. Furthermore, our underground gas-storage option in Albania would ensure that additional gas supplies would be accessible to the Balkan market in an emergency.

Similarly, TAP also has a physical reverse-flow option that could be initiated rapidly in the event of an emergency, such as the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute in 2009. Finally, the existence of TAP across the Balkan and south-eastern Europe region would also spur additional opportunities to connect with other planned and existing networks (such as the Ionian-Adriatic Pipeline, or IAP, and the Greece-Bulgaria Interconnection pipeline, or IGB).

TAP is therefore a pipeline that would contribute to the EU’s energy security. In addition, it requires no public grants or subsidies, and it is the shortest (at 520 kilometres) and most commercially viable of the pipeline options designed to secure the future of Europe’s energy supply.

For the reasons outlined above, I firmly believe that the European Commission must ensure that all pipelines in the ‘southern gas corridor’ are considered on an equal and level playing-field.

Kjetil Tungland

Managing director

Trans Adriatic Pipeline

Baar, Switzerland

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