BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 12. During February the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) consortium will begin the excavation works associated with the new Electrical Control Building, Luca Schieppati, TAP managing director, said in an exclusive interview with Trend ahead of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council’s meeting to be held in Baku March 1.
He pointed out that TAP is proceeding with the relevant works required for making the 1.2 additional bcm/a of incremental capacity available to the market, in line with the commitments received.
“TAP will add one compressor unit (ca 15MW) to the existing compressor station in Kipoi (Alexandroupolis area), at the Greek border with Türkiye and upgrade the facilities there. Following the completion of the early civil works, we started the first activities of setting up the temporary construction facilities and the excavation of the foundations for the new compressor building in Kipoi. During February we will also begin the excavation works associated with the new Electrical Control Building. The final preparation activities for the main piping tie-ins are nearing completion, which will allow us to start this work on site in the coming months. In addition, the procurement of the main materials and engineering continues to meet the overall project schedule – and we expect the Commercial Operation Date to be on 31 December 2025,” added Schieppati.
The Trans Adriatic Pipeline is part of the Southern Gas Corridor, transporting natural gas to Europe from the Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan.
Connecting with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline at the Greek-Turkish border, TAP crosses Northern Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea before coming ashore in Southern Italy to connect to the Italian natural gas network. TAP’s initial capacity is 10 billion cubic meters per year, which can be expanded to 20 billion cubic meters.
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