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Azerbaijan's state oil company Socar is to take a 20% stake in the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which was won the fierce competition last month to transport gas from the giant Shah Deniz field to Europe.

Socar and two fellow members of the Shah Deniz consortium - BP and Total - will take a combined stake of 50% in TAP. The Azeri company and consortium leader BP ewill take 20% a piece, with the French major to hold 10%. Socar president Rovnag Abdullayev told journalists that work on the acquisition process is underway, according to Azernews.

The Shah Deniz consortium selected TAP to transport its gas to Europe on June 28, rejecting a rival proposal from the Nabucco West consortium. The pipeline will collect 10bn cubic metres (cm) at the Turkish/Bulgarian border from the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP), which will carry the gas across Azerbaijan and Turkey.

The 800km TAP will run through northern Greece and southern Albania before traveling under the Adriatic Sea to Italy. The project's current members are Swiss energy company Axpo, Statoil and Germany's E.ON.

Abdullayev also told journalists that the members of the Shah Deniz consortium are expected to sign all the agreements and contracts on the export of gas from the field to Europe by late 2013. A final investment decision on the second phase development of Shah Deniz is expected by the end of the year.