TAP Completes Steel Pipe Deliveries

Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG announced October 16 that the final shipment of steel line-pipes for the construction of the pipeline (TAP) arrived at Thessaloniki, Greece October 10, marking the completion and final delivery of all line-pipes to the TAP's host countries.

The transportation of 55,000 TAP pipes and bends was completed over approximately 18 months. The first pipes arrived in Durres, Albania in April 2016 and deliveries to Greece started one month later in May 2016. 

Approximately 55,000 pipes are required to build TAP (32,000 in Greece, 13,000 in Albania, 9,150 offshore and 670 in Italy). Their combined weight is 520,000 metric tons; equivalent to 71 Eiffel Towers. They were manufactured by Corinth Pipeworks (Greece) and Salzgitter Mannesmann International (Germany).

TAP will transport natural gas from the giant Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to Europe. The 878km long pipeline will connect with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (Tanap) at the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi, cross Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Southern Italy.

TAP’s first gas deliveries to Europe will be in 2020. Its ownership structure is: BP, Italian gas grid Snam and Azerbaijan state Socar (20% each); Belgian gas grid Fluxys 19%; its Spanish counterpart Enagas 16% and Swiss utility Axpo 5%.

Mark Smedley