Making landfall in the Brindisi area would require a greater digging both on land and at sea, interventions would be needed in protected areas, to the detriment of the environment, Schieppati told Italian media.
“We evaluated 11 alternative landing points and Puglia is the best option” he said.
The pipeline project cannot be changed anymore, said the managing director, adding that starting again with the authorization process would mean going back more than four years and it would be useless, because there are no better options.
"The work on the ground will be carried out with the best and most modern solutions available to avoid damaging the environment. The gas terminal will be built in an area of 12 hectares and the plant and buildings will occupy less than 3,500 square meters,” he said.
Schieppati said that it is planned to move olive trees, but this work will be carried out respecting the environment and after the completion of the work, everything will be restored as before, with great benefits for everyone.
TAP is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union. The project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 to the EU countries.
The pipeline will connect to the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy’s south.
TAP will be 878 kilometers in length (Greece 550 kilometers, Albania 215 kilometers, Adriatic Sea 105 kilometers, and Italy 8 kilometers).
TAP’s shareholding is comprised of BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagás (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).
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