Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG (TAP) has awarded a contract to Salzgitter Mannesmann International GmbH for approximately 270km of the onshore 48” line pipe, as well as the bends TAP requires for both onshore (48”) and offshore (36”) use. Salzgitter Mannesmann International will provide 48” line pipes and bends for the onshore sections of TAP in Albania, Greece and Italy, and 36” bends for the offshore section across the Adriatic. This contract award makes up approximately 170,000 tonnes of line pipe.

The award of offshore 36” line-pipe and the remainder of the 48” diameter onshore line-pipe will be the subject of separate announcements in the near future.

Ian Bradshaw, Managing Director at TAP, said: “I would like to congratulate Salzgitter Mannesmann International for its successful bid and thank all those companies that took part in this tender. TAP has employed a rigorous selection process in this round of contract awards and will continue to do so, selecting companies based on their technical competence, health and safety standards as well as a number of other selection criteria that adhere to international best practice.”

“TAP plans to award several more large contracts by the end of the year. This will enable pipeline construction to begin in Greece, Albania and Italy in 2016 as planned,” Bradshaw added.

Salzgitter Mannesmann International GmbH is part of the Salzgitter AG Group, which was founded in 1859 and ranks as one of Europe’s leading steel and technology groups, with external sales of € 9 billion in 2014, a crude steel capacity of nearly 9 million tonnes and a workforce of more than 25,000 employees.

This year TAP has awarded several contracts: construction and rehabilitation of access roads and bridges in Albania (April 2015), large diameter ball valves and actuators (July 2015), and turbo compressors (September 2015) and fittings, isolating joints and scraper traps (October 2015).

About the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP)

TAP will transport natural gas from the giant Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to Europe. The 878 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 routing can facilitate gas supply to several South Eastern European countries, including Bulgaria, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and others. TAP’s landfall in Italy provides multiple opportunities for further transport of Caspian natural gas to some of the largest European markets such as Germany, France, the UK, Switzerland and Austria.

TAP will promote the economic development and job creation along the pipeline route; it will be a major source of foreign direct investment and it is not dependent on grants or subsidies. With first gas sales to Georgia and Turkey targeted for late 2018, first deliveries to Europe will follow approximately in early 2020.

TAP’s shareholding is comprised of BP (20%), SOCAR (20%), Statoil (20%), Fluxys (19%), Enagás (16%) and Axpo (5%).