Out of the approximately 550 km of pipeline scheduled to be built on Greek soil, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline’s (TAP) contractors have already lowered 119 km of pipeline -or more than 20%- into the trench, the company said on Tuesday in a press release detailing the progress made.

Ten months after the inauguration ceremony held in May 2016, construction has significantly progressed in two of the three northern Greek prefectures to be traversed by the pipeline: Eastern Macedonia-Thrace and Central Macedonia.

As of end-March 2017, contractors have received 66% of the total 32,000 line pipes to be used for the construction of the pipeline’s Greek section, cleared and graded 260 km of the project’s route, strung 217 km of pipeline, welded 184 km of the mainline and opened 154 km of trench.

There are more than 2,500 people working for the project in Greece, out of which about 400 are archaeologists and specialized archaeological workers.

TAP will transport natural gas from the giant Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to Europe. The approximately 878 km long pipeline will connect with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi, cross Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Southern Italy.

The company’s shareholding is comprised of BP (20%), SOCAR (20%), Snam (20%), Fluxys (19%), Enagás (16%) and Axpo (5%).

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