TIRANA (Albania), November 28 (SeeNews) – The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) consortium said it has completed the connection of the gas pipe with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Turkish-Greek border.
“This marks another significant milestone in the completion of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), a new energy route, which will increase energy security and diversification of energy supplies by bringing natural gas from Shah Deniz 2 gas field in the Caspian Sea to Turkey and, subsequently, European markets,” TAP said in a press release on Tuesday.
“The connection of TAP with TANAP signals that we are moving towards the completion of the Southern Gas Corridor and will be delivering gas to Europe, according to our schedule in 2020,” TAP managing director, Luca Schieppati, said.
In October, TAP launched construction works in Albania for the 105km offshore section across the Adriatic Sea that will link the gas pipeline to Italy’s transmission network.
“The physical offshore pipeline installation is planned to be carried out in 2019, as per TAP’s schedule,” the consortium said following the start of works.
TAP will transport natural gas from the giant Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to Europe. Earlier this year, Turkey and Azerbaijan inaugurated TANAP, a 1850km-long pipeline that will carry Azri gas to Europe.
The approximately 878km-long TAP connects with TANAP at the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi, crosses Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in southern Italy.
TAP’s routing can facilitate gas supply to several countries in Southeast Europe, including Bulgaria, Albania, Bosnia, Montenegro, Croatia and others. TAP’s landfall in Italy provides multiple opportunities for further transport of Caspian natural gas to some of the largest European markets such as Germany, France, the UK, Switzerland and Austria.
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%.