What is happening, does Croatia's activism risk leading to a change in the path of the Tap with the exclusion of Italy?
“This hypothesis has been circulating for a few weeks and it is not a school hypothesis. Croatia insinuates itself into the weaknesses shown by Italy and is pushing hard to conquer a role as a gas hub and become the terminal of the Ionian Adriatic Pipeline, a link road which, passing through Bosnia Herzegovina and Montenegro, arrives in Croatia bypassing Italy. The project extends over 516 km and has already obtained the first intergovernmental memorandums of understanding from the countries interested in the route".
Croatia is also moving on the hydrocarbon front
“The Zagreb government is granting the first exploration licenses in the Adriatic with the intention of encouraging production in fields that border on those in Italy. They have given the go-ahead for the first explorations in the area of the Pelagosa islands, a stone's throw from the Tremiti. And they are aiming to build a regasification terminal”.
Going back to Italy, what is Tap stuck on?
“From a formal point of view, we are awaiting the Via Nazionale, the environmental impact assessment, which we hope will arrive between the end of June and the beginning of July. But that's not the problem here. The real stumbling block is the role of political coordination of the initiative that we asked the government to involve the Region and local authorities”.
In the area of San Foca, in Puglia, where the TAP is expected to land after crossing Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, the project has come under the target of Municipalities and environmental associations. No breakthrough?
“An entirely underground 8 km route, in Puglia, out of a total of 874 km does not justify the current war on the Tap. In Italy there is a deafening silence about this project promoted by the producer Shah Deniz II and consistent with the desire to enter the market with aggressive pricing policies, mainly anchored to the spot market and not to oil. We are also willing to change the landing point on the coast as long as the government gives us guarantees on the governance of consensus as we have been asking for a year ".
How much time left? Is Italy at risk in terms of security of supplies?
“We are two-three months from the final definition of the project and we are close to the point of no return. The rubber band is not infinitely flexible. 8 billion cubic meters of gas would arrive here at an innovative price, the country would conquer the role of European hub, Snam would strengthen its revenues from transportation. If Italy were to stay out, it would be really regrettable”.
