DEPA to start receiving Azerbaijani gas through TAP

DEPA, Greece's national natural gas supplier, will start purchasing gas from Azerbaijan via the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) by the end of the year, Greek Environment and Energy Minister Kostis Hatzidakis told Euractiv.

According to Report, he hailed the start of TAP operations: "We look forward to the start of the delivery of commercial quantities of gas to the Greek market and specifically to DEPA until the end of the year following the existing gas supply contract from the Shah Deniz field."

Hatzidakis further argued that with this pipeline, combined with other projects such as the Greek-Bulgarian natural gas pipeline IGB and the Liquefied Natural Gas terminal of Alexandroupolis, Greece becomes the most important transit hub for the transportation of alternative natural gas sources in Southeastern Europe.

The 878 km long pipeline connects with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Turkish-Greek border in Kipoi, crosses Greece and Albania, and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Southern Italy.

The pipeline has a capacity of 10 billion cubic meters a year (bcm/y) and is designed with the potential to double its throughput capacity to 20 bcm/y. Shah Deniz is expected to reach peak output in 2023, around the time TAP would also hit full capacity.