Azerbaijan expects to secure TAP gas pipeline finance in full in April

By Nailia Bagirova

BAKU, Feb 29 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan expects to secure inApril full financing for the Trans Adriatic Gas Pipeline (TAP),seen as an alternative for Russian gas supplies to Europe, AzeriEnergy Minister Natig Aliyev said on Monday.

The Southern Gas Corridor project, of which TAP is a part,is expected to cost around $45 billion.

"The talks are under way. The issues of TAP financing willbe completely solved on April 28," Aliyev told reporters,declining to say why that exact date was chosen.

TAP's shareholders are BP, Azeri state company SOCAR,Snam, Fluxys, Enagas and Axpo.

TAP is a part of the project that is designed to transport16 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas from Azerbaijan's ShahDeniz II field in the Caspian Sea, one of the world's largestgas fields, by the end of the decade.

The 870 kilometre (545 mile) pipeline will connect with theTrans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) near the Turkish-Greek borderat Kipoi, cross Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, beforereaching southern Italy.

Last week, Aliyev said that construction on the TAP wouldbegin in March.

Russia, which supplies a third of Europe's gas, has longsought to supply gas to southern Europe via the Black Sea inorder to bypass Ukraine, a main route for the Russian gas to theEuropean Union, as relations between Moscow and Kiev havesoured.

Moscow also faces tougher regulations in the EU, which barsgas producers from owning infrastructure. It has alreadyscrapped the South Stream pipeline project due to EU resistanceand its TurkStream gas pipeline due to political tension withAnkara.

However, Europe has endorsed the gas from Azerbaijan.European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic, who was inthe Azeri capital Baku, said that the project would be completedon time. (Reporting by Nailia Bagirova; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin;editing by Louise Heavens)