After the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) was commissioned, the first new large energy infrastructure completed in Europe specifically to bring non-Russian gas to market, Geoffrey R. Pyatt, the US Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic, said at a meeting as part of the Fifth Energy Forum for Southeast Europe held in Thessaloniki.
According to him, TAP just seemed like a figment of the imagination: “I think everybody should be enormously proud of what the TAP partners, including Albania, Greece, Italy, have accomplished, but what that represents, as the first new large energy infrastructure completed in Europe specifically to bring non-Russian gas to market. That is now happening.”
TAP transports natural gas from the giant Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea to Europe. The 878 km long pipeline connects with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Turkish-Greek border in Kipoi, crosses Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea before coming ashore in Southern Italy.
TAP will facilitate gas supplies to South Eastern European countries through prospective interconnectors. In particular, Bulgaria will be able to cover up to 33% of its total gas demand through TAP after the completion of the Interconnector Greece Bulgaria (IGB). TAP’s exits in Greece and Albania together with the landfall in Italy provide multiple opportunities for further transport of gas from Azerbaijan to the wider European markets.
As a key part of the Southern Gas Corridor, TAP is strategically and economically important to Europe and essential in providing reliable access to a new source of natural gas. TAP plays a significant role in boosting Europe’s energy security, supply diversification, as well as decarbonization objectives.