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Four and a half years after the start of construction works in Thessaloniki of the Trans Adriatic pipeline (TAP), it was put into commercial operation on Sunday. This was announced by the consortium for the construction of the 878-kilometer facility, which will cross Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea to transport Azerbaijani gas to Italy.
TAP is the last part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which also includes the South Caucasus Gas Pipeline and the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline. It must supply raw materials from warehouses in Azerbaijan to the European market. Its capacity is 10 billion cubic meters per year, but it can be doubled. Deliveries of the one billion cubic meters agreed by the Bulgarian supplier Bulgargaz per year from the Caspian depot “Shah Deniz” should start on this route by the end of 2020.
“Today, the long-term vision has become a reality. I am very proud of this achievement, made possible by the commitment of all those involved, the great trust and support of all the governments of the chain and the European Union , as well as all the suppliers and contractors working on the project. ” said the managing director of the consortium, Luca Skiepatti, quoted in the statement.
This ensures that Europe can receive energy resources from another source, in support of the EU’s key objectives for an integrated energy market, as well as for a sustainable, safe and diversified energy balance, said TAP President Murad Heydarov.
The $ 40 billion Southern Gas Corridor will travel more than 3,500 km from Baku to southern Italy via Georgia, Turkey, Greece and Albania. Its separate segments are the South Caucasus Pipeline, the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans-Adriatic Gas Pipeline (TAP). The main source of gas for the system is considered to be the Shah Deniz field on the Caspian Sea shelf with deposits of 1.2 trillion. cubic meters.
The TAP route through Greece is 550 km long, through Albania: 215 km, 105 km along the bottom of the Adriatic Sea and 8 km along the Italian coast to reach the receiving terminal.
Around 55,000 pipes weighing 520,000 tons are found along the route. The route ascends to 2,100 m above sea level in the Albanian mountains and reaches a depth of 850 m in the Adriatic Sea.
At the time of its construction, there was not a single serious incident among the workers, according to the TAP consortium, in which the main shareholder with 28 percent is the British BP, 20 percent in the hands of the Azeri state company SOCAR The Italian Snam also has the same, the Belgian Fluxys has 19 percent, the Spanish Enagás 16 percent and the Swiss Axpo 5 percent.
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