Albania’s Gas Master Plan sets out an Exciting Future

Interestingly enough, the gas sector once played an important role in Albania and the country was a relatively large gas producer. In 1982, gas production amounted to one billion cubic metres but has now dropped to mere 0.01 billion cubic metres. It is worth noting that Albania and Kosovo are the only countries in the Western Balkan region which are not connected to international natural gas networks.

The existing oil network, which is 498 km long, is not in a good shape, either. It connects all the existing sources of oil, with the exception of the pipeline that connects the natural oil wells in Delvina with the Ballsh pipeline (the latest one being renovated), but it is no longer functional. Most of it is corroded and defective which makes its use unviable. Consequently, a new oil transmission and supplying system is needed.

TAP project progressing according to schedule

The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project, designed to transport gas from the giant Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to Europe, is progressing well and is on schedule to transport gas in early 2020, Lisa Givert, TAP Head of Communications told Trend.

“TAP will begin construction next year as we are aligned to Shah Deniz’s schedule,” Givert said adding that the overall construction phase will take approximately 3.5 years.

She also mentioned that some large contracts are expected to be awarded within TAP by the end of this year.

“While the contracts for access roads and bridges, turbo compressors and ball valves have already been concluded, TAP aims to award several large contracts by the end of 2015, including onshore and offshore pipeline construction as well as line pipes,” Givert said.

Recently TAP launched pre-qualification contracts for the supply and delivery of the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system and fibre optic cable, which are the final large package contracts to be awarded by TAP for project construction as company provided items.

TAP’s initial capacity will be 10 billion cubic meters per year, expandable to 20 billion cubic meters per year.

The approximately 870 km long pipeline will connect with the Trans Anatolian 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 shareholding is comprised of BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Statoil (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagás (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).