Enel CEO: More Interested in Buying TAP Pipeline Gas Than Stake in Project

On Mar 27, 2013

Italian utility Enel SpA (ENEL.MI) is more interested in buying the Caspian natural gas that will be carried by the planned Trans Adriatic Pipeline than in acquiring a stake in the project, the company’s chief executive said Tuesday.
“I am interested in buying their gas at good conditions and if necessary I will be participating (with) a stake in TAP, but my priority is to have the gas,” Fulvio Conti told journalists.
His remarks hint at a change in strategy by Enel, as the company has been flirting for months with the consortium that is planning TAP–which includes Norway’s Statoil ASA, Swiss Axpo and Germany’s E.ON AG–over a possible entry into the shareholding.
The comments come just months ahead of a final choice by Shah Deniz–the consortium that will provide the gas from an offshore field in Azerbaijan–on whether to export its gas to Italy via TAP, or transport it to Austria using another planned pipeline, Nabucco West.
The Shah Deniz consortium–in which BP PLC (BP), Norwegian state oil company Statoil ASA (STO) and Azerbaijan’s Socar are the main players–is expected to reach an initial decision in June and a final deal by October.