TIRANA (Albania), June 21 (SeeNews) – The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project is more than 88% completed, the consortium building the natural gas pipeline said on Friday.

"As of end-May 2019, we are over 88% complete, including engineering procurement and construction scope,” TAP said in a Twitter post.

Earlier this month, TAP said it has completed shallow water pipelay and offshore pipeline backfilling in Albania for the 105 km section across the Adriatic Sea that will link the gas pipeline to Italy’s transmission network.

The first 1.8 km of welded pipe was pulled ashore at the landfall near the southwestern city of Fier, TAP said in April.

The pipes will be laid on the Adriatic seabed: 37 km in Albanian territorial waters, 25 km in Italian territorial waters; and 43 km in international waters.

Connecting with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at Greece's border with Turkey, TAP will stretch across northern Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea before reaching Italy's coast where it will connect to the Italian natural gas network.

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%.