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(Recasts, adds TAP head comments)
By Stephen Jewkes
MILAN, Sept 29 (Reuters) - The growing tension between
Armenia and Azerbaijan does not pose any immediate risk to the
flow of Azeri gas into Western Europe, the head of the
Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) said on Tuesday.
TAP is the final leg of a $40 billion project named the
Southern Gas Corridor, which will transport gas from the Shah
Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to Italy.
"Fortunately the Corridor is a long way from the most
critical area," TAP managing director Luca Schieppati said
during an energy conference in Milan.
He said he believed the building of the pipeline was
something that could unite countries.
Dozens have been reported killed and hundreds wounded since
clashes between Azerbaijan and its ethnic Armenian mountain
enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh broke out on Sunday in a new
eruption of a decades-old conflict.
Schieppati confirmed that after some four and a half years
of work TAP was due to start on schedule in the coming months.
"By the end of the year the gas will flow and we can finally
open the southern corridor," he said.
The 878km TAP pipeline, which will have an annual capacity
of 10 billion cubic metres of gas, is a cornerstone of the
European Union's energy security policy to wean the bloc off
Russian gas.
Environmental campaigners and industry alike have voiced
concern giant gas pipelines could be under-used as countries
strive to use more carbon-free energy. Schieppati said he was
not worried about demand.
"I am confident the gas will be fully used," Schieppati
said.
TAP AG shareholders are BP, Azerbaijan’s SOCAR, Snam
, Fluxys, Enagás and Axpo.
(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes; editing by Giulia Segreti and
Barbara Lewis)
