TIRANA, Oct. 23 – The major Trans Adriatic Pipeline project has launched construction works for its offshore Adriatic section linking the pipeline that brings Caspian gas to Europe to southern Italy and is on track to bring first Caspian gas to Europe by 2020.
The launch of the offshore section comes after TAP, the major energy related project that is estimated to have triggered around €1.5 billion in investment in Albania alone, completed its 215km onshore section starting southeast Albania at the Albanian border with Greece to the Adriatic coast southwest Albania.
The Switzerland-based TAP consortium says construction works for the 105km offshore pipeline installation is planned to be carried out in 2019 and some 10 vessels will be used for its construction.
Speaking at a launch ceremony, Albanian Energy Minister Damian Gjiknuri said TAP would pave the way for the country’s gasification and the operation of the Vlora thermal power plant, a new costly investment which has not been made operational for about a decade due to high costs of operating on fuel.
TAP Managing Director Luca Schieppati said more than 80 percent of TAP’s works in Greece, Albania and Italy have already been completed and the pipeline is on track to start operations in 2020.
Some 9,000 steel pipes with a 36-inch diameter will be welded and used for the offshore section.
TAP and the Devoll Hydropower have been the two major energy-related projects that drove FDI growth in the past four years, but their completion by early next year is expected to give a blow to the country’s foreign investment unless new major projects replace them.
The FDI gap of some €200 million to €300 million that is expected to be created is the main reason why some international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF expect Albania’s GDP growth to slow down to 3.5 to 3.7 percent in 2019, down from an expected 4 percent this year.
Oil giant Shell, already in an exploration stage in the country and having made some important discoveries, could be a decent replacement for both of them if it decides to enter the production stage.
