Page 8 - FSUOGM Week 12 2021

FSUOGM PIPELINES & TRANSPORT FSUOGM

TAP expansion set for

market test in July

EUROPE THE developers behind the Trans-Adriatic expected in 2022.
Pipeline (TAP) that supplies Azeri gas to South- The expansion project faces challenges on
TAP is particularly east Europe plan to launch a market test in July both fronts. On the one hand, there are questions
important in Southeast seeking binding offers for a potential expansion about whether Azerbaijan can supply sufficient
Europe. of its capacity. amounts of gas, given that a Trans-Caspian pipe-
TAP connects with the Trans-Anatolian line from Turkmenistan looks unlikely. On the
Pipeline (TANAP) near the Greek-Turkish bor- other, there are doubts about whether there is
der and runs through Greece and Albania and sufficient gas demand in Europe to support the
under the Adriatic seabed, making landfall in project, especially given increasingly ambitious
Italy. The pipeline has so far flowed only 1bn climate targets announced by EU members over
cubic metres per year of gas, but its full capacity the past year.
is 10 bcm per year. The TAP consortium has pro- Azerbaijan’s state-owned SOCAR, a share-
posed doubling this to 20 bcm per year, pending holder in both Shah Deniz and TAP, had sought
sufficient market interest. to promote interconnection and gasification
“TAP is particularly important in Southeast projects in Southeast Europe to generate demand
Europe, where several markets could directly for the expansion. But these projects have made
receive additional gas,” the consortium’s head of minimal progress. The proposed Ionian Adri-
commercial, Marija Savova, said in a statement. atic Pipeline (IAP), for example, which would
“Moreover, there are open invitations to partic- connect with TAP in Albania and run through
ipate in the July 2021 binding bidding phase of Montenegro and into Croatia, has been under
the market test for the potential expansion of discussion for a decade and still has not been
TAP’s capacity.” sanctioned.
TAP represents the third and final section The non-binding phase of the TAP market
of the $40bn Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), test took place in 2019 while the binding phase
aimed at supplying gas from Azerbaijan’s off- had been scheduled for 2020, but was delayed in
shore Shah Deniz field to Turkey and Europe. the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pan-
The pipeline currently supplies gas to Italy and demic. SOCAR owns a 20% stake in the pipeline,
Greece, and is due to ship supplies to Bulgaria while BP and Italy’s Snam also have 20% each.
as well as following the completion of the IGB Belgium’s Fluxys has 19%, Spain’s Enagas has
pipeline linking it with the Greek gas grid, 16% and Switzerland’s Axpo has 5%. ™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 12 24•March•2021