Trans Adriatic Pipeline

Azerbaijan has started commercial natural gas supplies to Europe via the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the energy ministry said on Thursday, beginning its push into the lucrative energy market dominated by Russia.

The upcoming 31 December will remain a key date in the history of gas supplies in Bulgaria, for the first time in our recent history our country will start deliveries of natural gas from a new source - Azerbaijan. Deliveries are planned to be carried out via the new gas connection between Bulgaria and Greece, which will be completed in the next few months.

From December 31, Bulgaria will start receiving natural gas from Azerbaijan. According to the signed contract between Bulgargaz and the Azerbaijani oil company SOCAR, 1 billion cubic meters of gas per year will be delivered to our country from the Shah Deniz 2 gas field for a period of 25 years, the government press office reported.

In 2021, a market test will be carried out to double the transport capacity of the TAP pipeline to 20 billion cubic meters per year

Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) on Wednesday began importing natural gas in the last section of the pipeline in Greece, from Serres to Ieropigi (Kastoria) and the Greek-Albanian borders, as part of the test operation of the project.

An international agreement to build the EastMed gas pipeline, which will carry natural gas from the East Mediterranean to Europe through Greece, was submitted to Parliament on Tuesday for ratification.
The agreement was signed by Greece, Cyprus and Israel on January 2, 2020, in the presence of the leaders of the three countries.

The natural gas pipelines stretching from the reserves in Azerbaijan and Russia to the European markets have turned Turkey into a major energy corridor from East to West, a senior Turkish official has said, days before the inauguration of the TurkStream project with the attendance of the Turkish and Russian presidents.

The foreign ministers of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia assessed progress made in trilateral cooperation and discussed recent regional and global developments in the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Dec. 23. 

The Greek section of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) transporting natural gas from Azerbaijan to Greece, Albania, Italy and points beyond in western Europe is ready and will begin trial operations in early December.

During this so-called commissioning phase, small volumes of natural gas will go through the pipeline to ensure commercial use is safe.

The European Investment Bank agreed on Thursday a 110 million euros ($121 million) loan for the construction of a 182-km gas pipeline linking Bulgaria with Greece that will end Sofia's complete dependence on Russian gas and help diversify supplies in southeastern Europe.