Trans-Adriatic pipeline now Italy's second gas supplier after Algeria

The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which carries gas to Italy from Azerbaijan, has become the country's second-largest gas supplier after Algeria, the pipeline's Managing Director Luca Schieppati said on September 28.

TAP will bring to Italy more than 9 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas by the end of the year, up by 2.5 bcm compared to 2021, Schieppati said, Reuters reports.

In the wake of the war in Ukraine, Italy is diversifying its gas supply in order to reduce its dependence on Russia, which used to be its biggest gas supplier.

It should be noted that after the war in Ukraine, Italy is diversifying its gas supplies to reduce its dependence on Russia, which used to be its largest gas supplier.

The construction of TAP was completed in October 2020. The total length of TAP is 878 km, of which 550 km passes through the northern part of Greece, 215 km - through the territory of Albania, 105 km - along the bottom of the Adriatic Sea and 8 km - on the territory of Italy.

The TAP AG consortium is considering three scenarios for increasing the pipeline capacity: limited - up to 14.4 bcm, partial - up to 17.1 bcm and full - up to 20 bcm per year.

The final decision on increasing the capacity of the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline will depend on market tests that will be conducted in 2023. The initial goal was to increase gas supplies to 12 bcm per year from 2022, up from about 8 bcm in 2021, and possibly double the pipeline's capacity to 20 bcm per year.

Azerbaijani gas supplies to consumers in Italy, Greece and Bulgaria via TAP began on December 31, 2020.