The new Italian government has started to review the final stage of the €34bn Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) gas pipeline project and could modify Italy's involvement in it. The project's future may be threatened since the new authorities have labelled it as "pointless" in a context of declining gas demand (-7%/year between 2010 and 2014 but +6.7%/year since then and +6% in 2017 alone). Tensions between the government and the consortium could be expected in the near future.
The TAP project is scheduled to supply 10 bcm/year from the Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan between Kipoi (Turkey-Greece border), Greece, Albania and San Foca (Italy). Snam has a 20% stake in the project, along with BP (20%), Socar (20%), Fluxys (19%), Enagas (16%) and Axpo (EGL) (5%). It received a construction permit in Italy in 2015 (upheld by Italy's highest administrative court in March 2017 and endorsed by the Constitutional Court in October 2017) and is already being built in Greece and Albania with commissioning scheduled in 2020.