Italy has held talks with Azerbaijan to increase the gas volumes transported to Italy through the 10 bcm/year Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) to their maximum level, as the pipeline currently operates at 80% of its capacity (8 bcm/year exported from Azerbaijan to Italy). In addition, Italy has proposed to double the capacity of the pipeline in the long run.
In January 2021, Azerbaijan started commercial gas supplies to Europe via the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, which entered operations in November 2020. The 878 km long pipeline delivers natural gas from the Shah Deniz II field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea to Europe, connecting with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Turkish-Greek border in Kipoi, crosses Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Southern Italy. It should deliver 8 bcm/year to Italy and 2 bcm/year to Greece and Bulgaria, with the goal to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas. Snam has a 20% stake in the project, along with BP (20%), Socar (20%), Fluxys (19%), Enagas (16%) and Axpo (EGL) (5%).
Gas is the main energy source in Italy (43% in 2020). Imports cover 93% of Italy's needs and have been growing since 2014 to meet the higher demand from the power sector, from 56 bcm to 71 bcm in 2019 (+5%/year). In 2020, gas imports contracted by nearly 7% to 66 bcm, in a context of economic downturn. LNG imports have tripled since 2014, despite a 4.4% drop in 2020, and supplied 20% of total gas imports in 2020 (compared to 8% in 2014).