This contract award makes up approximately 170,000 tons of line pipe.
The award of offshore 36-inch line-pipe and the remainder of the 48-inch diameter onshore line-pipe will be the subject of separate announcements in the near future.
TAP’s message quoted Ian Bradshaw, TAP managing director, as saying that the consortium plans to award several more large contracts by the end of the year.
“This will enable pipeline construction to begin in Greece, Albania and Italy in 2016 as planned,” Bradshaw added.
TAP is meant to transport gas from the Azerbaijani gas condensate Shah Deniz 2 field to the EU.
The approximately 870-km long pipeline will connect with the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) at the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi, cross Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Southern Italy.
TAP’s initial capacity will be 10 billion cubic meters per year, expandable to 20 billion cubic meters per year.
The first gas as part of the Shah Deniz 2 project will be transported to Europe via TAP in early 2020.
TAP’s shareholding is comprised of BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Statoil (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (five percent).
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