U.S. envoy hails progress in TAP project realization

By  Trend

It is great to see progress at Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) site, said the US Ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey Pyatt.

It will bring energy diversification to Greece and all the European Union (EU), the envoy wrote on Twitter.

Remarkable progress has been achieved in the implementation of TAP project in all three countries through which it passes.

Earlier, the country manager of TAP AG consortium for Greece Rikard Scoufias said that work on 160km of TAP’s Greek section is almost complete.

“We have already started the work at around 320km of approximately 550 kilometers, which we plan to build in Greece,” he added.

He pointed out that the project is progressing on schedule and the pipeline will be ready to deliver Azerbaijani gas to Europe in 2020.

As much as 75 percent of pipes needed to construct the Greek section of the Trans Adriatic TAP has been received.

Moreover, recently, German EMS-Fehn-Group has successfully completed the delivery of pipes for TAP in Albania.

During a 15-months-period 135,000 tons of pipes and bends were discharged and transported without a single incident.

TAP project, worth 4.5 billion euros, is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union. The project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 to the EU countries.

The pipeline will connect to the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy’s south.

TAP will be 878 kilometers in length (Greece 550 kilometers, Albania 215 kilometers, Adriatic Sea 105 kilometers, and Italy 8 kilometers).

TAP’s shareholding is comprised of BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagás (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).