BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 1. Albania will start receiving Azerbaijani gas from 2026, an informed source told Trend.
The gas will be delivered in two directions: 200 million cubic meters of gas per year will be transported through the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) to a new power station with a capacity of 170 MW near the town of Fier (Roskovec municipality). The second delivery direction for Azerbaijani gas, starting from late 2026, could be the Albanian city of Korce (supply volumes are being coordinated).
The power station near Fier (located along the TAP route) is being constructed by the Greek TERNA company in collaboration with the Albanian Gener 2 company.
In January 2023, as a result of a TAP tender for mandatory bids, TERNA reserved a capacity of 200 million cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas per year in this pipeline, with deliveries starting from January 1, 2026.
TERNA took part in the construction of gas compressor stations along the TAP route (in Kipoi and Fier). It won the relevant tender for this pipeline consortium in 2015. The company also built a compressor station in Thessaly for DESFA, which is also connected to the TAP operation.
TERNA has significant expertise in building gas-operated heat stations.
Albania is a transit country for TAP, but since the 2020s, Albgaz company has been negotiating with SOCAR for direct gas purchases.
TAP, with a capacity of 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year, was commissioned in 2020 and is the European segment of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC).
In 2023, Europe received 11.8 billion cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan via the Southern Gas Corridor, sourced from the Caspian Shah Deniz field.