The transport of 55,000 TAP pipes and bends was completed in approximately one year and a half. The first pipes arrived in Durrës, Albania in April 2016 and deliveries to Greece started one month later, in May 2016.
Approximately 55,000 pipes are used to build TAP (32,000 in Greece; 13,000 in Albania; 9,150 offshore and 670 in Italy)
The weight of all pipes amounts to 520,000 tonnes: or approximately 71 Eiffel towers. The weight of a single 18-metre pipe ranges from 9.3 tonnes to 16.3 tonnes, depending on the wall thickness.
The pipes were manufactured by Corinth Pipeworks (Greece) and Salzgitter Mannesmann International (Germany).
Commenting on the issue, John Haynes, TAP project director noted that this is yet another key milestone towards successful realization of the project.
“The entire logistics delivery process was carried out in line with the project schedule and to the highest safety standards,” he added.
TAP is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor which is one of the priority energy projects for the EU.
TAP project envisages transportation of gas from the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz gas and condensate field to the EU countries.
The pipeline will be connected to the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy’s south.
TAP’s shareholders are: BP (20 percent), State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (20 percent), Snam (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).
TAP will be 878 kilometers in length (Greece 550 km, Albania 215 km, Adriatic Sea 105 km, and Italy 8 km). Its highest point will be 1,800 meters in Albania’s mountains, while its lowest point will be 820 meters beneath the sea.
