ECONOMY
Over 25% of TAP route cleared in Albania
January 24, AZERTAC
More than 25 percent of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline’s (TAP) route has so far been cleared and graded in Albania, TAP said on its Twitter page.
At the end of 2016, TAP AG completed the first phase of road infrastructure rehabilitation in this country.
TAP’s route through Albania is approximately 215 kilometers onshore and 37 km offshore in the Albanian section of the Adriatic Sea. It starts in the municipality of Devolli, in the Korce region, at the Albanian border with Greece, and arrives at the Adriatic coast 17 km north-west of Fier, 400 meters inland from the shoreline.
TAP will transport natural gas from the giant Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to Europe. The approximately 878 km long pipeline will connect with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi, cross Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before reaching Southern Italy. TAP will be 878 kilometres in length (Greece 550 km; Albania 215 km; Adriatic Sea 105 km; Italy 8 km). Its highest point will be 1,800 metres in Albania's mountains, while its lowest will be 820 metres beneath the sea.
TAP's routing can facilitate gas supply to several South Eastern European countries, including Bulgaria, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and others. TAP's landfall in Italy provides multiple opportunities for further transport of Caspian natural gas to some of the largest European markets such as Germany, France, the UK, Switzerland and Austria.
TAP will promote the economic development and job creation along the pipeline route; it will be a major source of foreign direct investment. With first gas sales to Georgia and Turkey targeted for late 2018, first deliveries to Europe will follow approximately in early 2020.
TAP's shareholding is comprised of BP (20%), SOCAR (20%), Snam (20%), Fluxys (19%), Enagás (16%) and Axpo (5%).