A company in charge of the construction and operation of Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline TAP AG, started to introduce the first natural gas into a 4 kilometers long section of the pipeline in Albania, between the Greek – Albanian border and up to the TAP metering station in Bilisht on 20 May.
In line with national and international safety and operational standards, this is the initial stage of the pipeline testing process, which aims to ensure that the infrastructure is entirely safe and ready for operations. Following the commissioning of this first section, gas will continue to be gradually introduced into other sections of the Albanian pipeline and beyond in the upcoming weeks and months.
TAP project envisages 878 km long pipeline that will connect to the Trans-Anatolian (TANAP) near the Turkish-Greek border and cross Greece, Albania and Adriatic Sea before reaching its final destination in Italy. Current shareholders of TAP AG are British Petroleum (20 %), Azeri state-owned SOCAR (20 %), Italian Snam (20 %), Belgian Fluxys (19 %), Spanish Enagas (16 %) and Swiss Axpo with 5 % of the shares. The initial capacity of the pipeline is 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year, with an option to expand the capacity to 20 billion cubic meters. The cost of the project was initially estimated at some 6 billion euros, but in 2016 CEO of TAP AG Ian Bradshaw confirmed that the construction should cost 4.5 million euros. The construction of the Greek section of the pipeline was launched on 17 May 2016, while construction works on the Albanian section started on 30 September same year. The works on the 105 kilometers long offshore section between Albania and Italy started in October 2018.
