TAP says 90% of pipeline route in Albania, Greece now cleared

Around 686 km out of 765 km of the TAP route in Albania and Greece are now cleared and graded, the consortium said in a Twitter post on Wednesday.

"Stringing, welding, trenching, etc. follow." TAP said.

The Southern Gas Corridor consists of the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP), which crosses Azerbaijan and Georgia, the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP), and TAP, which is projected to start from the Greek border with Turkey, run through Albania and the Adriatic Sea to reach Italy's coast.

The total investment of the consortium in Albania will stand at 400 million euro ($472 million) in each of 2017 and 2018, Albanian media quoted former TAP Albania country manager, Shkelqim Bozgo, as saying in August.

The consortium plans to start full-scale operation of the pipeline in 2020, according to information posted in its website.

The present 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%

($ = 0.84650 euro)