Brussels, 17/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - European Commission Vice-President with responsibility for energy union Maros Sefcovic stood alongside Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at a ceremony to launch the construction works of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) in Thessaloniki, on Tuesday 17 May. This pipeline will carry Azeri gas from Turkey to Italy via Greece and Albania.
TAP will run from Komotini in the east of Greece to Puglia in Italy, via Albania, a distance of 870 kilometres. It is one of the three key infrastructure projects of the Southern Gas Corridor, which will transport gas from the Shah Deniz II gas field in the Caspian Sea to the European market.
TAP will be linked to the Trans-Anatolian pipeline (TANAP), which runs across Turkey from the border with Georgia, and the Southern Caucasus Pipeline (SCP), which runs through Azerbaijan and Georgia and is directly connected to the Shah Deniz II gas field.
TAP is identified as one of the EU's “projects of common interest” (PCI), making it eligible for Community public funding.
“Once complete, TAP will be a major asset in European energy security tool box. By opening up access to gas from Azerbaijan, TAP will allow many countries, including in Central and South East Europe to diversify their sources of gas. Southern Gas Corridor will be vital for reaching the Energy Union objectives of diversification of sources, routes and energy security. Therefore timely completion is crucial so that gas from the new suppliers can flow to Europe by 2020”, Sefcovic stated.
The project, due to open in 2019-2020, will initially supply some 10 billion cubic metres of gas for the European market. With potential supplies from the Caspian region, and in the future potentially also from the Middle East, and the East Mediterranean, the EU aims, however, to increase this volume in the long-term, the Commission says. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)