Baku, November 20 AZERTAC

Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG (TAP) has awarded a contract to Corinth Pipeworks S.A. who will provide approximately 495km of 48" diameter line pipes for the Trans Adriatic Pipeline across Greece.

This contract award makes up approximately 270,000 tonnes of line pipe.

Ian Bradshaw, Managing Director at TAP, said: "We are pleased to be working with Corinth Pipeworks S.A. for this important contract. I would like to congratulate Corinth Pipeworks S.A. and its partner Marubeni Itochu Steel inc. for submitting a robust bid, to the highest industry standards. I also want to thank all the companies that participated in this tender round. TAP has employed a rigorous selection process, based on companies' technical competence, health and safety standards as well as international best practice.

Having selected Corinth Pipeworks S.A. as the major supplier of line pipe required for TAP in Greece, we hope it helps secure employment and brings longer-term additional investment and benefits to Greece."

Marubeni Itochu Steel Inc (MISI) is one of the largest steel and tubular suppliers in the world having a consolidated turnover of 2.1 Trillion JPY and a profit before tax of 40 Billion JPY in FY2014. MISI was established in 2001 in Japan as a 50/50 joint venture of Marubeni and Itochu Corporation.

This year TAP has awarded several contracts: construction and rehabilitation of access roads and bridges in Albania (April 2015), large diameter ball valves and actuators (July 2015), and turbo compressors (September 2015) and fittings, isolating joints and scraper traps (October 2015).

TAP will transport natural gas from the giant Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to Europe. The 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 coming ashore in Southern Italy.

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 and it is not dependent on grants or subsidies.