TAP construction of Southern Gas Corridor begins in Greece

The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) branch of the Southern Gas Corridor construction started in Greece on May 17. The ground-breaking ceremony for the TAP was held the same day in Thessaloniki province of the country.

"TAP and TANAP projects are success stories due to the increasing competitiveness of gas and the construction of an efficient and reliable market," said Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Minister, Berat Albayrak, who represented Turkey at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Albayrak said that the energy sector has diversified with new technologies used for providing renewed energy, achieving low emission targets and that energy efficiency highlighted the vitality of reliable and sustainable energy.

"The tolerance to energy cuts is decreasing. All energy sources, particularly natural gas and coal, will be major actors in the energy sources of European Union countries and the neighboring countries," Albayrak said.

" Turkey is ready for all the feasibility meetings to increase energy supply energy safety," the Minister said.

With TAP construction starting on schedule, Europe's Southern Gas Corridor is making progress along the entire US$45 billion value chain - from offshore Azerbaijan to Italy.

The 878-kilometer pipeline will have the capacity to transmit 10 billion cubic meters of Azeri gas as a beginning.