The consortium for construction of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and ICGB AD, operator of the project for construction of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), will sign a cooperation agreement, Lisa Givert, TAP Head of Communications, told Trend.

She noted that since the Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation (MoUC) between TAP and IGB (announced in January 2014), TAP has been working closely with the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (ICGB) to progress project-to-project cooperation.

"We are therefore pleased to confirm that during the High Level Group Meeting on the Central and South Eastern Europe Connectivity (CESEC) meeting on the 29th June 2018 in Sofia, TAP and ICGB are due to sign a Cooperation Agreement that will cover commercial and technical aspects," said Givert.

TAP project, worth 4.5 billion euros, is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union (EU). The project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 to the EU countries.

Connecting with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Greek-Turkish border, TAP will cross Northern Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea before coming ashore in Southern Italy to connect to the Italian natural gas network.

The project is currently in its construction phase, which started in 2016.

Once built, TAP will offer a direct and cost-effective transportation route opening up the vital Southern Gas Corridor, a 3,500-kilometer long gas value chain stretching from the Caspian Sea to Europe.

TAP shareholders include BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagás (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).

IGB is a gas pipeline, which will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijani gas, in particular, the gas produced from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz 2 gas and condensate field. IGB is expected to be connected to TAP via which gas from the Shah Deniz field will be delivered to the European markets.

The initial capacity of IGB will be 3 billion cubic meters of gas.

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