This October sees the completion of the filling up of the entire length of the 878-kilometer-long (545.5-mile-long) Trans-Adriatic Pipeline between the Greek/Turkish border and the pipeline receiving terminal at the heel of Italy, reports the project promoter Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG. It has just taken four-and-a-half years since the start of construction to reach this stage.

The project should be ready to transmit gas commercially from offshore Azerbaijani fields in the Caspian Sea to Italian markets by mid-November 2020. Once fully operational this should result in providing an alternative new source of natural gas to markets in southern Europe, thus reducing the dependence of Balkan states to Russian gas supplies. Currently, Russia’s Gazprom supplies a 3rd of Europe’s gas needs.

Already, several pipeline projects are in development to enable Balkan states to import natural gas using the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline network. It is envisaged that most major cities and towns in the region without access to gas supplies such as Zadar, Dubrovnik, Split and Tirana will be connected by the end of the decade.

Unfortunately, completion of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline project comes at a bad time for the promoters, as the demand for gas in Europe is a low, due in part to Covid, two mild winters, plus increasing competition from American LNG exports to Europe.