BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 2. The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) consortium is consulting with Greek gas transportation operators on a technical agreement, a source told Trend.
The agreement covers the possibility of providing blue fuel to eurozone gas buyers via TAP from the new floating liquefied natural gas terminal (FSRU) in Alexandroupolis.
He stated that from the beginning of the process of developing this terminal, which will be managed by Gastrade (its shareholders are GasLog, Copelouzou, DESFA, DEPA, and Bulgartransgaz), it was stated that this LNG terminal will be integrated into the Greek and Bulgarian gas pipeline systems, including TAP.
The floating terminal, which has a capacity of 153,600 cubic meters of gas, arrived in Alexandroupolis from Singapore on December 17, 2023 and is currently undergoing technical processes to begin operations.
The FSRU Alexandroupolis, with an annual LPG handling capacity of 5.5 billion cubic meters, will be connected to the subsea and onshore high-pressure gas pipeline in January 2024 to be able to supply gas to the Greek gas transmission system and further to final consumers in Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Northern Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, and even Moldova and Ukraine, including through transit via TAP (the European segment of the Southern Gas Corridor, SGC).
Gastrade is waiting for guaranteed bids for gas volumes for the FSRU and expects to start commercial operations by the end of the first quarter of 2024.
"The main LNG for this terminal is likely to be US LNG, but other gas sources are also possible. The TAP consortium is also currently conducting a market test to see if there will be spare capacity to pump gas from the new Greek gas terminal through the TAP system and possibly also through IGB (Interconnector Greece Bulgaria)," the source said.
According to him, the TAP market test is being conducted on October 20, 2023, in two phases, and the results will be known on January 31, 2024.
"Both pipeline gas and LNG suppliers, traders, and even gas buyers who want to be responsible for the transportation and receipt of gas themselves can reserve capacity in TAP. The main conditions are to make long-term commitments and pay a tariff to the transportation operator, i.e., the TAP consortium," the source added.
Currently, TAP's capacity is 12 billion cubic meters of gas per year, and the pipeline will actually be able to pump about 14 billion cubic meters per year in the next two to three years.
The TAP consortium said in September 2023 that doubling its capacity is possible by the end of 2028, but this depends directly on what the guaranteed reservation requests will be.
Commercial operations on TAP have been underway since late 2020 and mainly concern gas supplies to Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria from the Shahdeniz field under 25-year contracts signed in 2013 with nine European companies.