Southern gas corridor concluded. Green light to the Turkey-Greece segment, TANAP

One of the most important strategic projects for the EU is finally undergoing. The Southern gas corridor is a giant project with three pipelines that starts in the Caspian Sea and ends in the coasts of Italy, going through Albania. 

The network starts with the existing connection at the Southern Caucasus, which starts in Azerbaijan and ends in the Georgian-Turkish border. But the project had been stuck in this phase for years. Yesterday, after 15 years of strong lobbying from the EU, in Turkey started the works for the central segment of the trans-anatolian pipeline, also known as TANAP.

This segment transports azeri gas from the southern border of Turkey to the Western one, in the border with Greece. The last segment of the marathon project is the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, which starts in Greece, where TANAP ends, because it goes through Albania and arrives in the Italian coastline.

More than 3500 kilometers of pipes, 11 countries involved and more than 45 billion USD of investments. This has been considered by the British Petroleum as the most ambitious energy project ever undertaken. 

The EU has lobbied for the realization of the project, which supplies the European markets with gas without being influenced by Russia. The first quantities of gas will be sent to Turkey in 2018. One year later, through the TAPATO pipelines, they will arrive in the European markets with 10 billion cubic meters each year.

Foreign Media and specialized agencies considered the works as a historic event that changes not only the energy map in this part of the globe, but also the geopolitical balances. Albania will also have its profits in these events.