BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 25. This week, Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt commented on the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), a part of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), which delivers Azerbaijani gas on the European market, saying, that its commissioning was crucial and very timely, considering today's energy crisis on the region.
Meanwhile, Luca Schieppati, TAP managing director, informed earlier that the work to launch new long-term capacity of the pipeline is underway, and is expected to become available by 2025-end.
According to TAP consortium, new contracts have already been signed for allocation of the TAP's capacity from 2026.
"Following the closing of the binding bid submission window on 22 January 2023, TAP has now triggered the first level of expansion and allocated 1.2 bcm of incremental capacity per year through long term contracts starting from 2026. TAP will add one compressor unit (ca 15MW) to the existing compressor station at Kipoi, Greece and upgrade the facilities there," the consortium said.
Another TAP shareholder, Spanish Enagas, announced that the second binding phase of the market test to double TAP's capacities is scheduled for September 2023.
Meanwhile, according to the forecast of the International Energy Agency (IEA) published this week, gas supply from Azerbaijan to Europe via TAP in 2023 is expected to increase by less than 1 bcm. As the IEA noted, Azerbaijani gas deliveries via TAP were close to nameplate capacity in 2022. At the same time, the IEA pointed out that the EU has intensified its cooperation with key natural gas and LNG suppliers, such as Azerbaijan.
Furthermore, the consortium for another pipeline capable of transporting gas from Azerbaijan to Europe - the Ionian Adriatic Pipeline (IAP), which can be connected to TAP, is expected to be completed by late 2025. Reportedly, EU is set to allocate a total of 7.7 million euros for the project.
Let's mention that the TAP-IAP joint working group has been created already. It gathers regularly to synchronize the timing of both pipeline projects and coordinate the technical issues of interconnection.
Meanwhile, as it was reported this week, Pakistan is in talks with Azerbaijan to import Petroleum, Oil, and Lubricants (POL) products on credit, as well as to agree on liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies at affordable prices. As Pakistani Energy Ministry reported, Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) seeks an agreement with Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR on LNG cargo supplies at lower prices compared to the current market prices.
Also, this week the UAE's Masdar company, which is carrying out a solar power plant project in Azerbaijan's Garadagh, announced that is expected to start commercial operations this year.
At the same time, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which is one of the financial partners of the project, has shared an action plan on the construction of the project. According to it, before any construction works start within the project area, the access road will be constructed to allow the movement of large trucks to transport materials and personnel.
"The project area will subsequently be fenced off (1 week of Feb 2023 till April 15, 2023) and this fence will remain in place during the construction and operational period. Activities during construction will include site clearance, use of a temporary construction compound, construction of the substation, installation of solar panels and connecting an overhead transmission line (OHL) of 330 kV. The construction activities will take 1.5 years to complete (18 months)," the bank reported.