The story
The Trans Adriatic Pipeline project was announced in 2003 by Swiss energy company EGL Group (now named Axpo). The feasibility study was concluded in March 2006. Two options were investigated: a northern route through Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Albania, and a southern route through Greece and Albania, which finally was considered to be more feasible. In March 2007, the extended basic engineering for the pipeline was completed. Greece was opposed to having the route of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline pass through Albania, as it would allow Albania to become the transmission hub for gas in the Western Balkans.
On 13 February 2008, EGL Group and the Norwegian energy company Statoil signed an agreement to set up Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG, a joint venture to develop, build and operate the pipeline. In June 2008, the company filed an application with the Greek authorities to build a section of the pipeline from Thessaloniki to the Greek-Albanian border. In January 2009, the TAP carried out a marine survey in the Adriatic Sea to verify the offshore route. A route assessment survey in Albania started in July 2009. In March 2009, an intergovernmental agreement between Italy and Albania on energy cooperation mentioned TAP as a project of common interest for both countries. In January 2010, TAP opened country offices in Greece, Albania and Italy. In March 2010, TAP submitted an application to Italian authorities for inclusion into the Italian gas network.
On 20 May 2010, it was announced that E.ON had become a partner in the project. The deal was closed on 7 July 2010.
In November 2010, TAP started a route refinement survey in northern Greece in preparation for the environmental impact assessment. On 7 September 2011, the company submitted an EU Third Party Access Exemption applications in all three host countries, which allows TAP AG to enter into long term ship-or-pay gas transportation agreements with the shippers of Shah Deniz II gas. The exemptions were granted on 16 May 2013.
In February 2012, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline was the first project to be pre-selected and to enter exclusive negotiations with the Shah Deniz Consortium. In August 2012, consortium partners BP, SOCAR and Total S.A. signed a funding agreement with TAP's shareholders, including an option to take up to 50% equity in the project. On 22 November 2012, the TAP consortium and Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline's partners signed a memorandum of understanding that established a cooperation framework between the two parties.
On 28 September 2012, Albania, Greece and Italy confirmed their political support for the pipeline by signing a memorandum of understanding. In February 2013, Greece, Italy and Albania signed an intergovernmental agreement.
In June 2013, the project was chosen as a route for gas from Shah Deniz II over the competing Nabucco West project. Later in 2013, BP, SOCAR, Total, and Fluxys became shareholders of the project. In September 2014, E.ON and Total sold their shares to Enagás and Fluxys. In December 2015, Snam joined TAP, acquiring Statoil's 20% interest in the project.
Construction of the pipeline started on 16 May 2016. On 15 November 2020, the pipeline began commercial operations, and the first Azerbaijani gas was delivered to Italy on 30 December 2020.
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On 27 January 2023, Axpo announced the sale of its 5% shares to Enagas (4%) and Fluxys (1%). Both companies reached an ownership of 20% thanks to this transaction, on par with the other remaining shareholders.
On 30 January 2023, TAP announced that the first level of capacity expansion was triggered following the first binding phase of its 2021 market test. This expansion will add additional 1.2 billion cubic meters (bcm) of capacity per year to the project.
From Wikipedia’s article on Trans Adriatic Pipeline, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4