At the end of August, Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline project was 97.9 % complete, said TAP AG, a company in charge of the construction and operation of TAP.
The statement from the consortium said that TAP is moving closer to completing the project construction phase. In preparation for the start of commercial operation and as part of the testing and commissioning phase, the TAP pipeline has been filled with natural gas from the Greek- Turkish border up to the compressor station in Fier in Albania.
Last month, TAP AG issued the Network Code for the pipeline, as approved by the national energy regulatory authorities of Greece, Albania and Italy. The TAP Network Code has been finalized following the public consultation launched in August 2018, and sets out rules that govern TAP’s services to customers, including shipper registration, credit support, capacity products offered, capacity booking, balancing, usage costs, etc. TAP will be offering capacity in line with the TAP Network Code through the PRISMA capacity booking platform. The shippers’ registration process opens on 10 August 2020.
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.
