‘Compliance with EU law required for TAP access’

Development of the TAP (Trans Adriatic Pipeline) project’s Greek segment is on schedule with groundwork for 230 km, from 190 km in January, of the country’s 550 km total stretch completed, Rikard Scoufias, TAP’s Country Manager for Greece, told energypress in an interview.

“We are on schedule and 90 km of pipelines have been installed across the entire Evros region, as well as parts of the Rodopi prefecture and Serrres,” noted Scoufias who took part in an economic forum at Delphi.

Parties interested in having access to European infrastructure must operate in accordance with EU regulations,” Scoufias remarked, noting that the TAP project will offer a greater number of gas supply options for Europe, currently reliant on Russia for natural gas.

To run across northern Greece, Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to Italy, the TAP project is being designed to primarily carry Azeri natural gas to Europe.

Russia remains a key player for European natural gas supply but diversification is a fundamental in the aim to ensure energy security,” Scoufias said.

“The plan is to have completed the pipeline’s construction by the end of 2018 in order to have an entire year for test runs in 2019 before TAP begins fully operating in 2020,” the TAP official noted.