Greece and the consortium of partners involved in the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) gas project have complied fully with EU rules, including state aid ways, so the construction of this asset is permitted, indicates a communication from the European Commission (EC).

The consortium of companies involved in the project consists of BP (20%), SOCAR (20%), Snam (20%), Fluxys (19%), Enagas (16%) and Axpo (5%). The parties will invest a total of 5.6 billion euro, Greek segment totaling 2.3 billion euro.

European institution approved also the tax regime proposed by the partners for a period of 25 years after the pipeline begins to be used. The approval was obtained due to the limitation in magnitude (project funding is exclusively private, state aid is mostly in the form of exemptions from taxes and fees) and the introduction of a ceiling up to which tax relief may be granted from total expenses.

TAP pipeline should become operational in 2020 and aims to transport natural gas to the Turkish-Greek border of Azeri gas. The pipeline has an initial transport capacity of 10 billion cubic meters of gas annually.

Within the EU, the pipeline will cross Greece and Albania to reach Italy. TAP is part of Southern Gas Corridor, a web of pipelines and interconnections with a total length of 3,500 kilometers and passing through seven countries.