The Italian Constitutional Court (Corte Costituzionale) has confirmed the validity of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) construction in the Puglia region (Italy). The project is highly controversial and protesters have called for it to be re-routed while the regional government of Puglia branded the pipeline as illegal. But those objections have been overridden by the Italian authorities because the project is of huge strategic significance and will allow Italy to diversify its energy supply. The Italian Council of State already endorsed it again back in March 2017.
The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) aims to connect with the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline to transport natural gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz-2 gas field to Europe (via, Greece, Albania and Italy). With an initial capacity of 10 bcm/year of gas, the 878-km-long pipeline will transport gas from the Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to the Greek border (Kipoi) via Albania to Italy by 2020.
The builder and operator of the pipeline is Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG (TAP), a joint venture of BP (20%), Socar (20%), Snam (20%), Fluxys (19%), Enagás (16%) and Axpo (5%). In 2016, TAP announced it plans to invest €5.6bn for the project, of which €2.3bn in Greece. In May 2016, construction works for the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project have started in Greece.