The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) taking gas from Azerbaijan to Europe will pump the first gas into Italy at the start of 2020 despite local protests against the 4.5 billion euro ($5.3 billion) project, the TAP president told Reuters. "We are on track to deliver the gas in the first quarter of 2020," Walter Peeraer said in an interview.
TAP, the end piece of the $40 billion Southern Gas Corridor, is slated to bring up to 10 billion cubic metres of gas from the giant Azeri Shah Deniz II field into the small Italian seaside town of San Foca in the southern Apulia region by 2020.
But opposition from the local town council and the regional authority, as well as ongoing clashes between no-TAP protesters and police, has caused delays and raised concerns the project could miss deadlines and even be re-routed. Michele Emiliano, governor of the Apulia region, has called for the pipeline to be moved further north and has filed a series of legal claims that have drawn the ire of Rome.
The Italian government, keen to transform Italy into a gas hub for southern Europe, considers TAP a strategic priority. Puglia has around 14,000 kilometres (8,700 miles) of high/mid/low-pressure gas pipes on its territory. EDF unit Edison and Greece's Depa have plans to bring in Mediterranean gas through the EastMed pipeline to the Puglia resort of Otranto.
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