The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has endorsed a €500m loan to support the 10 bcm/year Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) gas interconnection project. The 878-km long pipeline worth €4.5bn will start at the Greek/Turkish border, cross Albania and, after passing under the Adriatic Sea, will end in southern Italy. The project is already being built in Greece and Albania with commissioning scheduled in 2020.
The TAP project is developed by Snam with a 20% stake, along with BP (20%), Socar (20%), Fluxys (19%), Enagas (16%) and Axpo (EGL) (5%). The project fits into the framework of the broader Southern Gas Corridor (SCG), which will spread across 3,500 km and will supply gas from the Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to Europe. The key components of the SCG are the Southern Caucasus Pipeline in Azerbaijan and Georgia, the TAP project and the TANAP pipeline in Turkey, which came onstream in June 2018.