TAP allows Italy to become gas exporter

The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which transports Azerbaijani natural gas to Europe via Turkey, has allowed Italy to export gas for the first time, Report informs citing foreign media.

On the last day of 2021, Italy sold 20 million cubic meters of gas, which is about 10% of its net consumption of 214 million cubic meters.

The commercial flow of gas through the TAP began on December 31, 2020. In the first year of commissioning of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, the last branch of the Southern Gas Corridor, 8.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas was transported to Europe.

Italy, known as a major energy importer, has become an exporter of gas thanks to the TAP, which transports natural gas from Azerbaijan to Puglia, as well as to the country’s gas storage system.

From December 31, 2020 to December 31, 2021, the volume of natural gas transportation from Azerbaijan to Italy through the Trans Adriatic Pipeline amounted to 6.8 billion cubic meters.

TAP is capable of transporting approximately 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year to various European markets. The pipeline has also been designed to increase production capacity to 20 billion cubic meters per year.

TAP, together with the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and the South Caucasus Pipeline, forms the European part of the Southern Gas Corridor, a chain worth $40 billion.

TAP transports natural gas from the Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea to Europe. The 878 km pipeline is connected to the TANAP at the Turkish-Greek border, passing through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea to the southern coast of Italy.