TAP to guarantee constant direct supplies from Caspian Sea to Europe - Managing Director

TAP Managing Director Luca Schieppati has said that over 27 billion cubic metres of gas have been transported to Europe via the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) since the beginning of commercial operations, over 23 billion cubic metres of which have been exported to Italy.

Schieppati made these remarks at the Energy Summit in Italy, according to Report.

“We have made a key contribution to security of supply and market liquidity. This happened thanks to the long-term contracts, according to which the annual transportation of 10 billion cubic metres of gas is envisaged, eight billion cubic metres of which are intended for Italy, and short-term capacities. We are using the gas pipeline more flexibly, we have products allowing to transport gas not only from east to west as usually but also from west to east, and to deliver gas from Greece to Europe as well,” he said.

He said that for example, this allowed Greece to store gas in Italian storage facilities last year, giving it flexibility.

“We must continue working to guarantee such constant transport services in the future, namely, direct transportation from the Caspian Sea to Europe, based on long-term contracts,” he added.

Schieppati noted that TAP became absolutely strategic as it guaranteed 15 per cent of gas demand in Italy in 2022.

TAP pipeline is intended to transport gas to Europe from the Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea as part of the second stage of its development.

Azerbaijan increased gas export by 18 per cent - to 22.3 billion cubic metres, 11.4 billion cubic metres were supplied to Europe (an increase of 39 per cent) in 2022. Around 10.325 billion cubic metres of gas were supplied to Italy via TAP in 2022 (an increase of 43.1 per cent).

According to Eurostat, EU countries, namely, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria imported natural gas from Azerbaijan worth 15.599 billion euros ($16.4 billion) in 2022 (a four-fold increase over the year). During the reporting period, Italy imported natural gas from Azerbaijan worth 13.253 billion euros or $13.9 billion (an increase of 3.9 times).

Some 24.5 billion cubic metres of gas are planned to be exported from Azerbaijan in 2023, of which about 12-12.5 billion cubic metres will be supplied to Europe.