Caspian Report - Issue: 07 - Spring 2014

Signing
ceremony of
host government
agreement in
Athens on June
26, 2013.
submit an in depth evaluation of alternative
routes for the pipeline. In
particular, some suggested that given
that another pipeline (ITGI) is coming
ashore near Otranto, around 20 km
south of San Foca, and that it has already
obtained the relevant authorisations,
the TAP pipeline landfall site
could be moved near Otranto. However,
in its April 2014 delivery, the
TAP consortium made it clear that San
Foca remained the best option for the
pipeline to come ashore; in the same
document, the consortium provided a
reasoned reply to the criticisms made
by the Apulia Region authorities and
other stakeholders.
The difficulties faced by the consortium
in obtaining the relevant
authorisations and in rallying support
for the project from local and
national authorities are in contrast
to the relevance of the infrastructure.
In fact, the Italian government and
the EU have repeatedly declared the
TAP gas line to be of “strategic importance”.
The reason is quite simple: it
adds a new supply route to Europe,
different from the traditional ones,
like Russia, North Africa or even the
North Sea, where reserves are falling
very quickly. There is no need for any
expertise in energy strategy or economics
to understand that when you
are highly dependent on an imported
commodity, it makes sense to diversify
supply sources in order to lower
the risks of a sudden interruption,
and also to generate lower prices
through competition. It would be also
the first time that gas from the former
Soviet Union, from the Azerbaijani
part of the Caspian Sea, is delivered to
Europe without being absorbed into
the Russian system of transport grids
and, more importantly, commercial
contacts.
It is also important to note that the
project is competing with future supply
from Russia without posing any
real threatening to Moscow. Europe
is likely to need, if its economy recov-
49
CASPIAN REPORT, SPRING 2014