BAKU
Baku hosted a sign-off ceremony on Tuesday for the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project which is to carry natural gas in the Shah Sea 2 field in Azerbaijani through Turkey to Europe.
Attending the sign-off ceremony, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said the project of Shah Sea 2 will provide an opportunity to Azerbaijan to offer its natural gas to global markets.
"The project of Shah Sea 2 will change the energy map of the region," said Aliyev.
Stressing that an investment of nearly 35 billion dollars will be made within the scope of the project, Aliyev said that 30 thousand new work places will be created too.
Turkey was represented by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz at the sign-off ceremony.
Pointing the Shah Sea 2 project, Yildiz said that the project will bring the stability to the countries in the region.
"We are going to use our strategical and geographical position for the project, " said the energy minister.
The attendants at the ceremony has included the president of Montenegro, the prime ministers of Greece, Georgia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Albania as well as the foreign ministers of Britain and Italy.
The USA has also been represented in the ceremony by a deputy secretary of state.
Meanwhile, the project aims enhancing security of supply as well as diversification of gas supplies for the European markets. In 2003 the pre-feasibility study for TAP was conducted and the pipeline developers plan to begin construction in early 2015 to be ready to pump gas from Shah Sea by 2019.
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