82.4% of the project for the construction of the TAP pipeline – which is expected to supply natural gas from Azerbaijan to Greece, Albania and Italy – has been completed, while 10% of the respective offshore part of the pipeline under the Adriatic Sea has been completed.

Every day, as the high-level executives of the consortium managing the project point out, hundreds of meters with the Right of Way are being cleaned and shaped, while the pipes are being connected, welded, placed in the trench and covered with soil according to the construction stages and the timetable of the project.

The TAP pipeline will have a total length of 878 km.

At its highest point, in Potom, Albania, the pipeline will reach 2,100 meters above sea level, cross nine mountain peaks over 500 meters above sea level and will “climb” over a 40% a steep slope, while the deepest part of the submarine section will be 820 meters in the Adriatic Sea.

The overall construction phase of the project is expected to be completed in the second half of 2019, as Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has given the green light for the completion of the TAP pipeline, expressing his support for the project after many months of negotiations and constant concern over the objections of the Italian side.

The aim, according to the consortium’s managing director, composed of BP (20%), SOCAR (20%), Snam (20%), Fluxys (19%), Enagás (16% 5%), is for 100% of the part of the pipeline passing through the Greek territory to have been completed within 2019.

Source: Nefeli Tzanetakou/balkaneu