Albania’s Albgaz invites bids for subcontractor services for TAP maintenance

The bidding deadline is December 28 and the maximum budget available for the job is 420 million leks ($4.0 million/3.4 million euro), VAT excluded, Albgaz said in a tender notice published by Albania’s public procurement agency last week.

The services should be provided in the course of 36 months after the contract is awarded. They comprise engineering works for repair, rehabilitation and restoration of TAP infrastructure in Albania.

On Sunday, TAP consortium said it began commercial operations.

In November 2018, TAP consortium signed a letter of intent finalising the negotiations for a maintenance agreement between TAP and a joint venture comprising Albgaz and Italian gas infrastructure company Snam.

In July 2017, Snam signed a memorandum of understanding with Albgaz to support the development of a gas infrastructure system that will be managed by Albgaz, which was set up in 2017 for this purpose. The MoU came in relation to the gas market development that will be launched after the completion of the TAP pipeline.

TAP transports natural gas from the giant Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea to Europe. The 878 km long pipeline connects with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Turkish-Greek border in Kipoi, crosses Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Southern Italy.

TAP is part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which also comprises the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) crossing Azerbaijan and Georgia, and TANAP.

The shareholders of TAP are BP, Azerbaijan’s state company Socar and Italy’s Snam with 20% each, Belgium’s Fluxys with 19%, Spain’s Enagas with 16% and Swiss-based Axpo with 5%.

(1 euro = 123.425 leks)