Montenegro, Croatia, Albania and the executives of Azerbaijani oil and gas company SOCAR initialed a memorandum of understandingon the development of the Ionian Adriatic Pipeline (IAP) on the sidelines of the Dubrovnik-based investment forum, Montenegro's economy ministry said.
IAP is the only means to bring gasification to Montenegro, hence the government is wholly dedicated to the projects speedy realisation, economy minister Vladimir Kavaric said in a release posted on the ministry's website on Friday.
According to his Croatian counterpart, Tomislav Panenic, IAP will generate energy stability in the region and may pave the way to the liberalisation of the gas supply market in Europe.
SOCAR's executive director for the Balkan region, Murad Heydarov, added in the release, that the company's goal is to link the Caspian and Adriatic Sea and that the IAP project is of great significance to company strategy.
In 2007, Croatia, Montenegro and Albania signed a declaration on the IAP, which is planned to carry natural gas from Albania's Fier via Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, to Split in Croatia. IAP would be connected with the 870-kilometre Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) which should transport gas from Shah Deniz II, Azerbaijan, via Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, to Italy.
The IAP gas pipeline, with a length of 516 kilometres, is planned to have a capacity of five billion cubic metres annually.
(SEENews)
