Italy Court Revokes Order Halting Work on TAP Pipeline

An Italian court has revoked an order that had halted work to remove olive trees from the pathway of a strategic pipeline that will bring central Asian gas into Europe, a lawyer involved in the case said on Thursday.

The decision paves the way for work to restart on the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) which is slated to bring 10 billion cubic metres of gas from Azerbaijan into the small Italian seaside town of San Foca in Apulia by 2020.

Opposition from the local town council and the regional government of Apulia has caused a series of delays to the project.

Earlier this month a court issued the order to suspend the work to remove the olive trees at the behest of the Region.

"The court has annulled that sentence," Mariano Alterio, a lawyer for the Region, told Reuters.

A spokesman for TAP Italy also confirmed the court's decision.

(Reporting by Giancarlo Navach, writing by Stephen Jewkes)