LONDON, July 30 (Reuters) - The oil companies developing alarge Azeri gas project, Shah Deniz II, and Belgian gas gridoperator Fluxys said they had taken stakes in theTrans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which will transport the gas toEurope.
Last month, Shah Deniz II partners BP, Azeri stateoil company SOCAR, Total and Statoil, whichwas already a TAP shareholder, chose TAP over its Austria-basedrival Nabucco West.
TAP said at the time that SOCAR, BP, Total and Fluxys wouldjoin the project. Fluxys said on Tuesday it now holds 16percent. BP, SOCAR and Statoil said each own 20 percent andTotal 10 percent.
Initial TAP owners E.ON and Axpo havereduced their stakes to 9 percent and 5 percent, respectively,from the 15 percent and 42.5 percent they originally owned.
Beginning in 2019, the TAP project plans to deliver 10billion cubic metres of gas from Shah Deniz II, one of theworld's largest gas fields with an expected investment of morethan $40 billion including pipelines, each year, reducingEurope's dependence on Russian gas.
A Turkish pipeline will carry the Azeri gas from the CaspianSea and link to TAP, which will extend to southern Italy viaGreece and Albania.
Fluxys and Italian equivalent Snam also are jointlydeveloping projects to increase gas exchange between northernand southern Europe.
"Through Fluxys's partnership with Snam and our project toenable south-to-north flows from Italy to Germany and Belgium,the TAP pipeline will link the European consumer market withgiant gas fields in the Caspian region," Fluxys ManagingDirector Walter Peeraer said in a statement.
BP (BP.)