TIRANA (Albania), April 5 (SeeNews) – The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) consortium said it has pulled ashore the first first offshore pipelines in Albania for the 105 km section across the Adriatic Sea that will link the gas pipeline to Italy’s transmission network.
“The pipeline head reached kilometre point 0, where the offshore joins with the onshore section,” TAP said in a press release late on Thursday.
The first 1.8 km of welded pipe was pulled ashore at the landfall near the southwestern city of Fier.
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%.