BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 9. The support of the EU Commission and national governments is strategic for the development of a regulatory framework and financial support for the expansion of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), Luca Schieppati, TAP managing director, said, Trend reports via the TAP AG consortium.
“Italy's gas supply diversification strategy envisages full political support for increasing the volume of imports via the Southern Gas Corridor by doubling TAP’s capacity,” he said addressing the Top Utility 2023 conference.
He pointed out that in 2022 alone, TAP covered more than 15 percent of Italy’s gas consumption. The total volume of gas transportation via TAP to Italy stood at 18 billion cubic meters since the start of commercial supplies.
Azerbaijan’s gas supplies to Europe began December 31, 2020 via TAP, the European leg of the Southern Gas Corridor. Its initial capacity is 10 billion cubic meters, expandable to 20 billion cubic meters per year. In July 2022 Azerbaijan and the European Commission reached an agreement to double the gas supplies to Europe by 2027. Following the completion of the binding phase of the market test, TAP triggered the first level of expansion.
Azerbaijan’s gas exports to Europe stood at 11.4 billion cubic meters as of 2022.