“90,7 percent of the TAP project, including all engineering, procurement and construction scope have been completed. Nearly all pipes are in the ground in the host countries and construction of the pipeline receiving terminal in Italy is over 65 percent completed,” the company added.

TAP is currently moving further into the project construction phase. Every day hundreds of meters of TAP’s Right of Way (ROW) are cleared, strung, welded, lowered into the trenches and backfilled.

On 25 November, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) AG started to introduce the first natural gas into a 2 km section of the pipeline in Greece between the Evros river and the Kipoi compressor station.

This is the initial stage of the pipeline commissioning process, which aims to ensure that the infrastructure is entirely safe and ready for operations after the completion of the process, in line with national and international safety and operational standards, according to TAP AG consortium.

Introducing gas into the pipeline system is another milestone towards the start of Shah Deniz II gas deliveries to Europe. Commercial gas flows through TAP are being planned to start in October 2020 when the complete asset all the way to Italy is expected to be commissioned and tested.

Following the commissioning of the first section, gas will continue to be gradually introduced into other sections of the Greek pipeline and beyond in Albania and Italy in the upcoming weeks and months.

The 878km long pipeline will connect with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi, cross northern Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Southern Italy, where it will connect to Italy’s gas transportation grid operated by SNAM Rete Gas.

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