The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is the European link of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), a complex value chain of energy projects to transport natural gas produced in Azerbaijan as part of Phase 2 of the Shah Deniz gas condensate field in the Caspian Sea to Europe.
Specifications
The length of the section of TAP passing through Greece is about 551 km. This is the longest section of the pipeline, starting at the Greek village of Kipoi on the border with Türkiye and ending southwest of the village of Leropigi on the border with Albania. The Greek section of the pipeline also includes two compressor stations near Kipoi and Serres (construction of the Kipoi compressor station has been completed and is scheduled for Phase 1, the Serres compressor station has not yet been built, and is planned for Phase 2). The station in Kipoi was built and commissioned at a level of 10 bn m3 to transport gas. Construction of the station in Serres is planned in case of the pipeline’s capacity is expanded to 20 bn m³. There are 22 block valve stations along the Greek part of the pipeline.
The length of the TAP pipeline passing through Albania is about 216 km on land and 37 km in the Albanian sector of the Adiratic Sea. TAP has a measuring station in the village of Bilisht near the Albanian-Greek border. There is a compressor station in the Fier region of Albania. The pipeline reaches the Adriatic coast 17 kilometres northwest of Fier.
After Total and E.ON left the project in 2014, and in December 2015 the Italian company Snam acquired a 20% stake from Statoil (currently Equinor), and AXPO divestment in July 2023 the current TAP shareholders are: bp (20%), SOCAR (CQD 20%), Snam SpA (20%), Fluxys (20%) and Enagás (20%).
The groundbreaking ceremony of the TAP gas pipeline was held on the 17th of May 2016 in Thessaloniki, Greece. In November 2019, gas was transported for testing on the Greek part of TAP, and natural gas was received for a 2 km section of the pipeline between the Evros River and the compressor station in Kipoi. The construction of TAP was completed in October 2020, and after the pipeline was connected to the Italian gas distribution network on the 15th of November, the first commercial gas volumes from Azerbaijan to Europe began on the 31st of December.