Kvirikashvili at TAP opening: “Georgia is one of Europe’s key transit partners”

Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has spoken at a special ceremony marking the beginning of construction of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which will bring gas from western Turkey to Greece, Albania and across the Adriatic to Italy.

This afternoon at the special event, attended by top European and American delegations, Kvirikashvili said Georgia, as a transit country, supported Europe’s energy diversification and stressed the country was a reliable partner for major foreign players. 

Across this route the TAP will merge with other existing and planned pipelines that will make energy resources available [and allow] Caspian Sea region gas supplies to be transported to central and west Europe,” Kvirikashvili said.

In his speech the Georgian high official stressed the importance of the Southern Gas Corridor project, which included the TAP and other similar pipelines. 

We are proud Georgia is a partner state of the Southern Gas Corridor project and an inseparable part of the project,” Kvirikashvili said. 

He said, in the framework of the project, through close cooperation between Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey and with the support of western partners, about 30,000 jobs were created in the countries involved in the Southern Gas Corridor project. 

Georgia is a strategic partner of the Southern Gas Corridor project. Photo by the Prime Minister's webpage. 

Kvirikashvili highlighted Georgia "unconditionally” supported the expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor and said his country was ready to participate in all meetings and gatherings as this expansion went ahead. 

The TAP is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor project. 

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the most complex gas value chains ever developed in the world, said the pipeline’s operator British Petroleum (BP).

 Stretching over 3,500km, crossing seven countries and involving more than a dozen major energy companies, the Southern Gas Corridor is comprised of several separate energy projects representing a total investment of about $45 billion.

The project involves:

• The Shah Deniz 2 development (Azerbaijan), drilling wells and producing gas offshore in the Caspian Sea;
• Expansion of the natural gas processing plant at the Sangachal Terminal on the Caspian Sea coast in Azerbaijan;
• Three pipeline projects;

- The South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP measuring 690 km) – Azerbaijan, Georgia;

- The Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP-1,900km )– Turkey;

- The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP-870km) – Greece, Albania, Italy; 

Georgia is a strategic partner of the Southern Gas Corridor project. Efforts to increase the transit capabilities of the Southern Gas Corridor have already launched and the cost of this project was about $2billion.

The project utilized services and goods worth about $400 million in Georgia, out of the $2billion total cost, said Georgia’s Ministry of Energy on its website.

Once complete the expanded South Caucasus Pipeline will be able to transit 16 billion cubic meters of gas instead of the current 6 billion cubic metres. 

The expanded pipeline was set to begin transporting the increased gas amount in 2019. From 2020, in exchange for transit, Georgia will receive about one billion cubic metres of gas annually.