Azernews.Az

Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) started a nearshore survey north of Vlore in south-eastern Albania, TAP reported on Thursday.

The purpose of survey is to collect samples of the seabed soil near the Albanian coast along the planned route of the pipeline.

The subsea survey is carried out by the TAP project with the support of sub-contractor D'Appolonia, an Italian leader in engineering.

According to the TAP's country manager for Albania, Albert Haak, the comprehensive analysis of the seabed is necessary for TAP in order to decide on the exact offshore routing of the pipeline and also for further pipeline engineering work.

TAP has recently concluded a similar seabed survey in the Adriatic Sea in Italy near San Foca.

TAP, which is one of the Southern Gas Corridor projects, is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy and further into Western Europe.

Gas to be will be produced during the second stage of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field development is considered the main resource for TAP.

Recently Shah Deniz consortium made TAP a priority route for export of Azerbaijani gas to Italy.

TAP's shareholders are EGL of Switzerland (42.5 percent), Norway's Statoil (42.5 percent) and E.ON Ruhrgas of Germany (15 percent).

The total length of the pipeline is about 800 kilometers. The initial pipeline capacity of TAP will be 10 billion cubic metres per year, expandable to 20 billion cubic metres per year.