TAP gas pipeline launches commercial operations

The 878-kilometre gas pipeline began operations four and a half years after its construction started, the TAP consortium said in a statement on Sunday.

“As a new transmission system operator, developed and built in compliance with best industry practices and standards, TAP enables double diversification:  a new, reliable and sustainable energy route and source of gas reaching millions of European end-users, for decades to come," TAP managing director, Luca Schieppati, said in the statement.

Connecting with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at Greece's border with Turkey, TAP stretches across northern Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea before reaching Italy's coast. TAP, which will carry 10 billion cubic metres of new natural gas supplies per year from Azerbaijan to markets in Europe, 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%.