The Azerbaijani gas flowing through the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) has reached Italy. Gas transportation from Azerbaijan through Georgia and Turkey to Greece, Bulgaria, and Italy via the TAP started on December 31, 2020.

The first gas reached Greece and Bulgaria via the Nea Mesimvria interconnection point with Greece’s DESFA, and Italy via the Melendugno interconnection point with SNAM Rete Gas, the TAP consortium said in a statement.

“The start of gas deliveries is a significant milestone for Europe’s gas market. While we look forward to providing transportation services to shippers in the upcoming months and years, we also look forward to launching the second phase of our market test in the summer, which will enable the future expansion of TAP, doubling the pipeline’s capacity to 20bcm/a,” said Marija Savova, head of commercial at TAP, according to SeeNews.

Connecting with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at Greece’s border with Turkey, TAP stretches across northern Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea before reaching Italy’s coast. TAP, which will carry 10 billion cubic metres of new natural gas supplies per year from the Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea to markets in Europe, is part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which also comprises the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) crossing Azerbaijan and Georgia, and TANAP.

The shareholders of TAP are BP, Azerbaijan’s state company Socar and Italy’s SNAM with 20% each, Belgium’s Fluxys with 19%, Spain’s Enagas with 16% and Swiss-based Axpo with 5%.