BAKU

The launch of a pipeline between Greece and Bulgaria intended for the delivery of natural gas from Azerbaijan has been postponed to June 2022 due to restrictions imposed on the construction process because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a source at the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) consortium told The Tribune.

TAP is a segment of the Southern Gas Corridor that runs from Azerbaijan’s giant Shan Deniz offshore gas field to Europe. Shah Deniz reserves are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic metres.

The pipeline between Greece and Bulgaria is TAP’s 182-kilometre interconnector that will bring around 1 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas from Azerbaijan to Bulgaria, providing between 25 and 30 percent of the European country’s gas needs. The interconnector, worth 240-million euros, was expected to be ready by the end of 2020. Its annual capacity is 3-5 bcm of gas.

Azerbaijan started commercial natural gas supplies to Europe from the second stage of the Shah Deniz project via its $40-billion Southern Gas Corridor in December 2020, when the corridor’s last part, the TAP, was launched. The project is aimed at reducing Europe’s dependence on natural gas supplies from Russia, which currently controls 34 percent of the continent’s gas market.

The source said that Bulgaria received Azerbaijani gas from Greece through an alternative gas line that connects the points of Kulata and Sidirokastro from January 1, 2021, due to delays in the interconnector’s construction.

“Bulgaria will be receiving 225 million cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas via the alternative route of Kulata-Sidirokastro until October 2021,” he said.

Bulgaria’s state company Bulgargaz signed a 25-year agreement with Azerbaijan’s state energy firm SOCAR and the BP-led international Shah Deniz consortium on gas supplies from Azerbaijan in 2013.

The BP-led consortium, which develops the Shah Deniz project in Azerbaijan, has been pumping gas from the offshore field’s first phase since 2006, delivering more than 10 billion cubic metres (bcm) a year of gas to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.

The second phase started output in 2018, adding 16 bcm of gas production capacity at its peak to bring total capacity to 26 bcm.

Azerbaijan aims to supply European gas markets with 10 bcm of gas a year, including 8 bcm to Italy and a combined 2 bcm to Greece and Bulgaria.

Apart from BP and Azerbaijan’s state energy firm SOCAR, participants of the Shah Deniz consortium are Turkey’s TPAO, Malaysia’s Petronas, Russia’s LUKoil and Iran’s NIOC.

The 878 km TAP pipeline connects to the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline on the Turkish-Greek border in Kipoi, crosses Greece, Albania, and the Adriatic Sea, and reaches Italy’s southern coast.

On the first day of the project, which started the flow of natural gas to Europe on December 31, 2020, TAP pumped 10.9 million cubic meters of natural gas to Europe.

After the commencement of gas flows via TAP in December 2020, a total of one billion cubic meters of natural gas from Azerbaijan was transported to Europe via the Greek interconnection point of Kipoi, where TAP connects to the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP).

TAP can stimulate gas supplies to countries in southeast Europe through interconnectors to be built in the future.

TAP’s shareholders are SOCAR (20 percent), BP (20 percent), Snam (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagás (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).