TAP Gets Green Light in Greece
The Greek ministry for energy and the environment has granted the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) company its installation permit for Greece. Together with the Installation act, secured in January 2016, it allows the start of pipeline construction in line with the project schedule, TAP announced.
“Benefiting from exemplary collaboration with the Greek government and the competent authorities at all levels, our project execution continues to progress as expected. I am pleased to report that batches of line pipe for Greece continue to reach our marshalling yards in Thessaloniki and Kavala”, TAP’s managing director Ian Bradshaw said.
Thessaloniki port (Credite: TAP)
TAP officially launched the start of pipeline construction in Greece May 17.
In late May the first vessels and trains carrying sections of line pipe arrived at Thessaloniki and Kavala to be stored for onward shipment along the route of the line. The line pipe was produced by Greece’s Corinth Pipeworks and Germany’s Salzgitter Mannesmann International.
TAP will transport natural gas from the giant Shah Deniz 2 field in Azerbaijan to Europe. The 878-km long pipeline will be connected 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.
Designed to carry 10bn m³/yr, TAP could carry twice that with additional compressor stations. "Last month I attended the inauguration ceremony of the works on the Trans Adriatic segment (TAP) in Thessaloniki, meaning it is now being built on European soil. By 2020 we expect to see gas flowing into Europe," Energy Union vice-president Maros Sefcovic said addressing the BDEW Congress in Berlin.
TAP construction start ceremony, EC VP Maros Sefcovic and Greece PM Alexis Tsipras (Credit: TAP)
“This will be the conclusion but not the end. Once the route and the overall framework are tested, it will be easier to expand the Southern Gas Corridor beyond the initial volumes of 10bn m³/yr," he said without giving details.
Azerbaijan energy minister Natig Aliev said earlier that Tanap can be expanded from 16 bn m³/yr to 24bn m³ and then 31bn m³ a year. However, these decisions will only be made if there are firm commitments from gas shippers in the region.
Kama Mustafayeva