March 17 (SeeNews) - The consortium operating the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) has transported 10 billion cu m of natural gas from Azerbaijan to Europe since its launch at the end of 2020, it said on Thursday.
The gas entered Europe at the interconnection point of Kipoi, at the Greek-Turkish border, where TAP connects to the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP), TAP said in a statement. Approximately 8.5 bcm of the total have been delivered to Italy.
"We are currently able to reach the full transport capacity of 10 bcm per year. On top of this, we can add further capacity via short-term auctions," Luca Schieppati, TAP managing director, said in the statement.
According to Marija Savova, TAP head of commercial, the delivery of the first 10 bcm of gas to Europe enhances liquidity in the gas markets and reinforces TAP’s role as a reliable transporter that can significantly contribute to the security of supply in Europe.
"TAP can double its capacity and expand in stages, up to 20 bcm within 45-65 months, as a result of requests to be received during the binding phase of a market test and the accumulated requests resulting in an economically viable outcome," Savova said.
The next binding phase is currently scheduled for July 2023. However, TAP can accelerate this timeline and launch the binding phase of the market test during 2022, provided that it receives interest for an earlier start in the ongoing public consultation, Savova said adding that TAP invites all interested parties to take part in the market test.
Connecting with TANAP at Greece's border with Turkey, TAP stretches across northern Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea before reaching Italy's coast. TAP, which carries natural gas from the Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea 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%.