TAP and Gazprom: the path of promising partnership

Alexey Belogoriev, Deputy Principal Director on Energy Studies commented to News.ru on the prospects of competition between TAP and Turkish Stream gas transmission projects.

In turn, Deputy Principal Director on Energy Studies of the Institute for Energy and Finance AlexeyBelogoriev said, that the sales markets for TAP and Turkish Stream are completely different. TAP goes through Greece to Italy, and it’s targeted at the South Italian market. But the second branch of the Turkish Stream is targeted to Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Austria.

“A very small amount could theoretically go to the north of Italy. In any case, these two projects have no direct intersection between sales markets,” he noted.

Of course, according to him, TAP’s entering the Italian market will increase competition in this market, including with Russian gas. On the other hand, this project has been developed for so long, that its appearance had already been taken into account and there will be no surprise for Gazprom.

For Europe, TAP is an element of diversifying sources and routes of gas supply to its market. Any diversification is useful. It contributes to increasing price competition and energy security. In addition, a new gas transportation corridor has been created, and given that the network of main gas pipelines is rather poorly developed on the Balkan Peninsula, the appearance of another pipe is very useful in terms of the regional market.