London — The Trans Adriatic Pipeline began delivering first gas from Azerbaijan to Italy on Dec. 30, with 3 million cu m of technical gas supplied into the line that day, according to data from Italy's transmission system operator Snam, adding that nominations are set to rise to 10 million cu m for Dec. 31.
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Register NowThe TAP pipeline is the last section of the Southern Gas Corridor, Europe's major project for diversification of gas supplies. The route allows gas from the Shah Deniz gas field in Azerbaijan's sector of the Caspian Sea to flow into Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece and finally Italy. TAP runs from Greece to Italy via Albania and the Adriatic Sea.
In its current form, TAP is set to deliver 8 Bcm/year of gas into Italy, 1 Bcm/year to Greece and 1 Bcm/year to Bulgaria.
There are seven long-term buyers of TAP gas destined for Italy, for a total of 8 Bcm/year: Shell, Engie, Uniper, Naturgy, Hera Trading, Enel and Axpo. In addition, DEPA has contracted for 1 Bcm/year of gas for Greece and Bulgargaz for 1 Bcm/year for Bulgaria.
Shareholders of the TAP pipeline are some of Europe's biggest energy companies: BP (20%), Snam (20%), Fluxys (19%), Enagas (16%) and Axpo (5%). Azerbaijan's state-owned Socar, one of the developers of the Shah Deniz 2 gas field, holds the final 20%.
Construction works on the pipeline were concluded in mid-November. TAP AG had previously said that the pipeline would have delivered first volumes of gas by the end of Q4 2021.