TAP completes pivotal gas pipeline project
The Trans Adriatic Pipeline, the final leg of a gas mega-project spanning seven countries across the European continent, starts commercial operations
An 878-kilometre gas pipeline that crosses three countries – travelling over Albanian mountains and under the Adriatic sea – was declared operational today.
The Trans Adriatic Pipeline is a strategic piece of energy infrastructure that forms the last link in the mega Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) project.
SGC covers several separate energy projects that stretch over 3,500 kilometres, crossing seven countries and involving more than a dozen major companies.
By the end of this year, SGC will transport 10 billion cubic metres of new gas supplies from the Caspian in Azerbaijan, travelling through Georgia and Turkey before coming onshore in Italy via the TAP pipeline.
TAP in time
TAP was four-and-a-half years in the making, involving thousands of people from multiple countries working together to deliver on schedule and without incident.
TAP’s managing director, Luca Schieppati, praised the achievement, saying: “TAP enables double diversification: a new, reliable and sustainable energy route and source of gas reaching millions of European end-users, for decades to come.”
TAP marks the culmination of a series of infrastructure mega projects – Shah Deniz Phase 2 (SD2), South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP), Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) and TAP, in which bp plays a role.
💡 Why it matters
As a key part of the Southern Gas Corridor, TAP is strategically and economically important to Europe and essential in providing reliable access to new supplies of natural gas. TAP plays a significant role in boosting Europe’s energy security, supply diversification, as well as decarbonization objectives.
Investing in strategic projects like SGC also demonstrates bp’s commitment to resilient, focused hydrocarbons, which are essential to fuelling our transformation to an integrated energy company.
TAP construction timeline, 2016-2020
TAP facts and figures
- TAP is 878 kilometres in length (Greece 550km; Albania 215km; Adriatic Sea 105km; Italy 8km).
- Its highest point is at approximately 2,100 metres in Albania’s mountains, while its lowest is 810 metres below sea level in the Adriatic Sea.
- TAP has capacity to transport 10bcma of gas a year – enough to supply around 7 million households – to multiple markets in Europe and is designed with the potential to double throughput capacity to 20bcma.
- Working over 50 million people hours and driving around 140 million kilometres, without any major incident – a world-class safety record.
- Construction involved approximately 55,000 steel pipes, weighing around 520,000 tonnes – that’s about 71 Eiffel Towers.
- The overall trench excavation volume was 5,397,000 cubic metres – almost twice the volume of the Cheops pyramid in Egypt.
Pictures courtesy of Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) AG
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