The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will be ready to deliver first commercial gas from the Shah Deniz - 2 field in Azerbaijan in October 2020, TAP's Head of External Affairs told Anadolu Agency in a recent interview.
TAP is the European leg of the $40 billion Southern Gas Corridor project which includes the Shah Deniz - 2 field, South Caucasus Pipeline and Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP). Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania and Italy are countries that are involved in the 3,500-kilometer-long Southern Gas Corridor project.
TANAP starts its journey to transmit Azeri gas to Turkey and delivers it to TAP on the Turkey-Greece border. TAP is considered to be a significant project for the diversification of Europe's gas sources.
The Turkish and Azeri presidents inaugurated the European link of the strategic TANAP with TAP on Nov. 30 in the northwestern Turkish province of Edirne, near the border with Greece.
Vugar Veysalov, head of external affairs at TAP said that 'in terms of overall project progress, the project is 90.5% complete including all engineering, procurement and construction as of the end of October 2019,' adding that the €4.5 billion project is on schedule to deliver first gas from Shah Deniz in October 2020.
TAP’s shareholders comprise BP, SOCAR and Snam each with 20% shares, while Fluxys holds a 19% interest, Enagas has 16% and Axpo holds a 5% stake.
TANAP, with a capacity of 16 billion cubic meters of (bcm), will deliver 6 bcm to Turkey while the remaining 10 bcm will be transferred to Europe via TAP.
- Testing has begun
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the inauguration ceremony held last week that the capacity of the $7 billion TANAP project would expand firstly to 24 bcm and then to 31 bcm.
Veysalov detailed TAP's progress, confirming that as of mid-November, more than 99% of the pipes were laid and backfilled while over 99% of the land was reinstated in the pipeline's three host countries; Greece, Albania and Italy.
'Once operational, TAP will be ready to transport the full capacity volumes booked by the shippers. There may be a period of ramp-up of deliveries, but this is for shippers to decide through their daily nominations of capacity required for the next day,' Veysalov explained.
As of Nov. 26, the pipeline started to introduce its first gas into a two-kilometer section of the pipeline in Greece between the Evros river and the Kipoi compressor station.
'This is the initial stage of the pipeline commissioning process, which aims to ensure that the infrastructure is entirely safe and ready for operations after the completion of the process, in line with national and international safety and operational standards,' TAP announced on its website.
By Nuran Erkul Kaya
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr