Italian expert: TAP will allow Italy to enhance its own energy security

Baku. 30 October. REPORT.AZ/ "Italy will benefit from an additional channel of gas supply, which concretely allows to enhance its own energy security through the diverisification of suppliers and supply routes," Researcher and Professor of Azerbaijan Contemporary History and Foreign Policy at Ca' Foscari University of Venice Carlo Frappi told Report speaking about TAP construction.

He believes that an additional source of gas will result in more competition on the national energy market and, potentially, in a decrease of prices for consumers.

"Last but not least, at a wider look the inauguration of the Trans-Adriatic supply corridor could allow another long-standing strategic goal of Italian energy policy to be achieved, namely the possibility to exploit the strategic geographical location of the peninsula and the multi-vectorial national supply policy with a view to advance a gas hub role in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea," the expert said.

Speaking of the advantages of the project for Azerbaijan, Frappi noted that the realization of the Caspian-Adriatic gas corridor entails economic advantage and will help Azerbaijan enhance its role as a "security provider" to its European counterparts.

 Researcher and Professor of Azerbaijan Contemporary History and Foreign Policy at Ca' Foscari University of Venice Carlo Frappi

At a wider look the inauguration of the Trans-Adriatic supply corridor could allow another long-standing strategic goal of Italian energy policy to be achieved, namely the possibility to exploit the strategic geographical location of the peninsula and the multi-vectorial national supply policy with a view to advance a gas hub role in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea.

Karlo Frappi

Карло Фраппи, профессор Университета Ка-Фоскари, Венеция

Moreover, the professor noted that energy cooperation - especially in the strategic gas sector - entails an elevated degree of political entente and interdependence among state actors.

"Thus, beyond the economic benefits deriving from the participation to the project, the project itself will contribute in creating a convergence of interests among the participating countries and, thus, in enhancing state-to-state relations along the route between the Caspian and the Adriatic Sea. The latter consideration is all the more relevant since the project can not be seen outside of the European framework whithin which it was born and developed," Frappi said.

Notably, the TAP pipeline, which is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor project, is initially expected to supply 10 bn cubic meters of gas produced as part of Shahdeniz-2 project to Europe annually. In the Kipoi area at the Turkish-Greek border the pipeline will be connected to the Trans-Anatolian pipeline (TANAP) and extend via Greece, Albania and Adriatic sea shelf to Southern Italy.

The first Azerbaijani gas will reach Europe in 2020.