Corinth Pipeworks has been awarded a major TAP (Trans Adriatic Pipeline) contract for the supply of 270,000 tons of pipeline to cover 485 kilometers of the project’s Greek segment, totaling 547 kilometers, the TAP consortium has announced.

The deal essentially means that a considerable part of the entire project, to run a total distance of 878 kiolometers through Greece, Albania, and Italy, following an Adratic Sea crossing, for Azeri natural gas supply to central Europe, will be developed by Greek firms.

A large number of companies took part in the tender held by the TAP consortium, which considered the Corinth Pipeworks bid as the most competitive.

“We want to congratulate Corinth Pipeworks and the company’s partner, Marubeni Itocho Steel, for the offer they submitted, which meets the industry’s high standards,” TAP Managing Director Ian Bradshaw declared. “Having selected Corinth Pipeworks as the biggest supplier of pipelines to be required for the TAP project in Greece, we hope to help ensure employment prospects and attract further long-term investments and benefits to Greece,” he added.

The Greek company announced its pipeline deliveries for the TAP project are expected to begin in 2016 and be completed within 2017.

Corinth Pipeworks noted the deal confirms its standing as a major pipeline supplier in the global energy industry. The agreement also significantly increases the company’s backlog of orders, which bolsters its prospects for the next few years, the company announced. Corinth Pipeworks also noted the deal highlights, in the most emphatic way, the company’s fulfillment of a medium-term objective to participate in major energy and infrastructure projects in the southeast Mediterranean.

Construction work on the TAP (Trans Adriatic Pipeline) project, the largest foreign investment to be made in Greece over the past few years, valued at over 1.5 billion euros, is expected to begin next April, consortium officials estimate.

BP, Azerbaijan’s Socar, and Norway’s Statoil each hold 20 percent stakes in the TAP consortium, Belgium’s Fluxys is represented with a 19 percent share, Spain’s Enagas has 16 percent, and Swiss company Axpo holds a five percent stake.