TAP completed by almost 90 pct
By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade
Southern Gas Corridor is one of the most ambitious projects in the oil and gas industry, and as part of it, Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) makes its own important contribution to successful completion of this project.
SOCAR has said in a message that 88.5 percent of the construction of TAP, which envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 to the EU countries, has been completed.
Meanwhile, about 99 percent of the welding work was completed on the onshore route of the TAP. TAP AG consortium stated that the welding seams are automatically tested to ensure that they comply with national and international standards.
Moreover, the final stage of onshore activities for TAP was also completed for more than 95 percent of the route in Greece, Albania and Italy (765 km in total), according to information provided by TAP AG consortium.
Recently, shallow water pipelay and offshore backfilling in Albania as part of the TAP project was finished.
TAP project started in 2016. Once built, TAP will offer a direct and cost-effective transportation route opening up the vital Southern Gas Corridor, a 3,500-kilometer long gas value chain stretching from the Caspian Sea to Europe.
The first gas deliveries to Europe via TAP are expected to start in 2020.
It will transport natural gas from the Caspian basin to Europe, connecting with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Greek-Turkish border, crossing Northern Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea before coming ashore in Southern Italy to finally connect to the Italian natural gas network.
Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG is a joint venture company registered in Baar, canton Zug, Switzerland, with a purpose of planning, developing and building the TAP pipeline. The Managing Director of the company is Luca Schieppati.
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Mirsaid Ibrahimzade is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @MirsaidIbrahim1
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