The 878 km-long Trans Adriatic Pipeline project (TAP) and the 1,850 km-long Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP) have been interconnected at the Maritsa river on the Greece-Turkey border. This is a significant step forward for the broader Southern Gas Corridor (SCG), which will spread across 3,500 km and also includes the Southern Caucasus Pipeline in Azerbaijan and Georgia.
The 16 bcm/year TANAP gas interconnection project is aimed at delivering 16 bcm/year of gas from Azerbaijan to Turkey (6 bcm/year for the Turkish market and 10 bcm/year to be transmitted to Europe). The first part started operations in June 2018 and currently ships natural gas from the Shah Deniz 2 gas field in Azerbaijan to Turkey. The European part of the project is expected to become operational in 2020. It is owned by Azerbaijan's state-run company SOCAR (58%), Turkey's pipeline operator BOTAŞ (30%) and BP (12%).
The 10 bcm/year TAP pipeline will spread from the Turkish-Greek border, through Greece and Albania, passing under the Adriatic Sea and ending in southern Italy. The project is also slated for completion in 2020. It is being developed by Snam with a 20% stake, along with BP (20%), Socar (20%), Fluxys (19%), Enagas (16%) and Axpo (EGL) (5%).