TAP pipeline meets 12% of Italy’s gas demand

Baku, December 10 - Neftegaz.RU. “Volumes heading to Italy (approximately 8.5 bcm/y) will represent around 12% of the national demand for gas,” head of external affairs at TAP Vugar Veysalov told EURACTIV in an exclusive interview.

“Before the Trans-Adriatic pipeline (TAP) was built, Italian businesses were paying a higher price for energy compared to their European peers. The new pipeline, which will also supply Greece and Bulgaria, will bring greater flexibility of prices,” Veysalov emphasized.

“As the European leg of the Southern Gas Corridor, TAP will bring natural gas to Europe from a new source and through a new route, thus reinforcing the continent’s security and diversification of supplies. Volumes heading to Italy (approximately 8.5 bcm/y) will represent around 12% of the national demand for gas; in South Eastern Europe, with volumes of lesser magnitude, the gas flowing through TAP will supply between the 20% and the 30% of the yearly gas demand of Greece and Bulgaria, respectively", he noted.

"Depending on market conditions we are thoroughly and constantly assessing, TAP could double its capacity to 20 bcm/y with minor modifications to the system,” Veysalov added.

4.5 years after the inauguration of construction works in Thessaloniki, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), an 878-km gas transportation system crossing Greece, Albania, the Adriatic Sea and Italy, began commercial operations.

TAP is the European leg of the Southern Gas Corridor, a gateway project that will transport 10 billion bcm/a of new gas supplies from Azerbaijan to multiple markets in Europe. The TAP system operates in line with internationally recognized quality, health, safety and environmental standards, and is designed with the potential to double its throughput capacity to 20 bcm/a.