TIRANA (Albania), July 4 (SeeNews) – The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) consortium said it has lowered into the ground around 85% of pipes on the route of the gas project in Albania and Greece.
Around 650 km of 765 km of pipes have already been laid and the trench has been back-filled, the consortium said in a Twitter post on Tuesday.
“Side boom tractors are used to lower the welded pipe into the trench. Generally, nearly 1km of pipe is lowered into the trench at a time,” TAP explained.
The gas pipeline will stretch from Greece's border with Turkey, via Albania and across the Adriatic Sea, to Italy's coast. It is part of the Southern Gas Corridor which also comprises the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP), which crosses Azerbaijan and Georgia, and the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP).
The consortium plans to start full-scale operation of the pipeline in 2020.
TAP shareholders 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%.