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Norway's oil and gas Company Statoil is to sell its 20% stake in the Trans Adriatic Gas Pipeline (TAP) project that will carry gas from Azerbaijan to Europe, the president of Azerbaijani state energy firm SOCAR, Rovnag Abdullayev, said, according to the international news agency Reuters.

"Statoil has decided to leave the TAP project completely and there is a company which is ready to buy its stake," Rovnag Abdullayev told the Azerbaijani ANS TV. He said several companies had expressed an interest in buying Statoil's stake, and it would be better if several companies would buy it.

Statoil did not comment on the news. "We generally do not comment on speculations on adjustments to our portfolio," the Norwegian company’s spokesman told Reuters.

The article reminds that Statoil has already sold its shares in Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas field as well as the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) to SOCAR, BP and Malaysia's Petronas.

Italian gas infrastructure company Snam said that it could take a stake of up to 20% in the TAP project that is designed to reduce Europe's reliance on Russian gas. Officials decline to comment on the price, but insiders say a 20% TAP stake could be valued at around 400 million euros. TAP's shareholders are BP (20%), SOCAR (20%), Statoil (20%), Belgium's Fluxys (19%), Spain's Enagas (16 %) and Swiss company Axpo (5%).

TAP is designed to transport natural gas from the Shah Deniz II field via Greece and Albania to Western Europe. Capacity of the pipeline is 10 billion cubic meters per year with the possibility of extension up to 20 billion, depending on supply and demand. TAP’s construction began in 2015 in order to start the supply of Azerbaijani gas in 2019. Remarkably, in December 2013, French company Total and Norway's Statoil refused to participate in the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline construction.

Related:
The Guardian: TAP gas pipeline project aroused Italian environmentalists’ discontent

Total and E.ON leave TAP project, which supplies Europe with Azerbaijani gas

Norwegian Statoil leaves Azerbaijani project Shah Deniz