BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. Work is underway to increase gas supplies to Italy via the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) by 1.5-2 billion cubic meters in 2022 as compared to 2021, Trend reports with reference to Italian Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper.
“If market conditions allow, TAP will be able to double its capacity to more than 20 billion cubic meters of gas per year without laying additional pipes. For now, efforts are made to supply 1.5-2 billion cubic meters more gas to Italy as compared to 2021,” says the newspaper.
Azerbaijan exported 8.2 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe via TAP from December 31, 2020 through December 31, 2021, of which 6.8 billion cubic meters went to Italy, while Greece and Bulgaria shared the rest.
TAP supplies 2.1 billion cubic meters of gas to Italy in the first quarter of 2022, or 1.2 billion cubic meters more than in the same period in 2021.
The supply of Azerbaijani gas to Europe through the Southern Gas Corridor began on December 31, 2020. Azerbaijan exported its natural gas to the European market through pipelines for the first time in history.
Azerbaijan has diversified its export opportunities with direct access to the European market, which is the world's largest importer of natural gas.
The Trans Adriatic pipeline (TAP) which is the European part of the Southern Gas Corridor, will annually supply eight billion cubic meters of gas to Italy and one billion cubic meters of gas to Greece and Bulgaria.
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