The submission is a key step towards obtaining the final permits and authorisations for construction and operation of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) in Italy.

The Italian Ministry will now consult with municipal, provincial, regional and central authorities, a process that will be conducted in parallel with TAP’s environmental-impact assessment process, which was launched earlier in 2011 and which complies with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s guidelines for environmental and social protection.

TAP AG Managing Director Kjetil Tungland said “This constitutes another key submission from TAP in recent months towards obtaining final permits in all our host countries, allowing TAP to initiate construction and operation to bring Caspian gas from Shah Deniz into European markets (expected in 2017/18).”

TAP is a natural gas pipeline project that will transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy and further into western Europe. The project is designed to expand transportation capacity from 10–20 Bcm/a.

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TAP’s shareholders are Switzerland’s EGL (42.5 per cent), Norway’s Statoil (42.5 per cent) and Germany’s E.ON Ruhrgas (15 per cent).