Natural Gas World
  • Natural Gas News

    SOCAR Open to Approaches from Greece

    old

Summary

The vice president of Azeri state-owned SOCAR has said that the company is willing to sell stakes in TAP to Greece, as long as it settles its account on time

by: Erica Mills

Posted in:

Natural Gas & LNG News, Pipelines, Security of Supply, Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) , News By Country, Azerbaijan, Greece

Print This Article

SOCAR Open to Approaches from Greece

Azerbaijan’s state energy giant SOCAR is prepared to sell a portion of its holdings in the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project to Greek entities.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, SOCAR Vice-President Elshad Nasirov said: "If Greece wants to buy any share, we are ready to sell it,” according to a report from Trend.

“But the main requirement for the Greek side is that it must settle the account on time. If there is such a company, SOCAR is ready to resell some shares. We want this pipeline to be more "Greek". Our wishes coincide. Another thing is to find a solvent company not to delay the construction of the pipeline and the Southern Gas Corridor project implementation", commented the official.

The present shareholding of the project consortium which will connect with the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) to move Azeri gas from the second phase of the Shah Deniz project to European markets, is comprised of BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Statoil (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagás (16 percent) and Axpo (five percent).

The Syriza led Greek government has changed the nation's stance on Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) as it specifically tries to enhance the role of the country in terms of extracting benefits for the state budget along with further energy security guarantees.

Greece is seeking the payment of transit fees to be paid to the country once the route is functional in 2019.  The new government is also revisiting an agreement for the sale to SOCAR of a 66% interest in DEFSA, the Greek transmission manager company.

Nasirov also addressed the issue of a revision in gas contract pricing to Greece for deliveries via TAP. 

“A contract was signed with Greece for 25 years. According to contract, there are provisions about possibility of negotiations regarding change of purchase and sale price of gas. This can happen when sharp changes are observed in the market. However, this can be after gas supply. As Greek side does not buy gas yet, any price change is out of question”, Nasirov said.

 

Related Articles