Vinci subsidiary Spiecapag has been awarded and EPC (engineer, procure and construct) contract for three sections of the upcoming Trans-Adriatic pipeline (TAP) that will form the final link in the European Union’s Southern Gas Corridor between Italy and the Caucasus.
One section will run 185km between Kipoi and Kavala in Greece and the other two will connect Bilisht and Topoje in Albania, a distance of 215km.
Altogether, the TAP will cover 878km and will span Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea before landing at the town of San Foca in the heel of Italy, where it will join the European gas network.
Once completed, the project will form one of three linked pipelines that will transport gas from BP’s Shah Deniz II gas field in Azerbaijan’s portion of the Caspian Sea. One section of the line, the South Caucasus Pipeline, has already been built. This will take gas to the border between Turkey and Georgia, where it will join the $11bn, 1,8850km Trans-Anatolian Pipeline, which is expected to be finished in 2018.
Jean-Claude Van de Wiele, managing director of Spiecapag, said: "We have begun mobilisation of our teams to allow work to start in mid-2016.
"We are proud to bring our customer our expertise and added value in gas pipeline construction, whatever the environment, and as always to contribute to the development of the communities where we will be working during the project."
Image via Vinci