Pipelines, flows and roots power struggles over the trans Adriatic pipeline in southern Italy

Abstract

The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is one of three pipelines – together with the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) and the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) – that make up the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), a European Union (EU) initiative aimed at connecting the Azeri gas fields in the Caspian Sea to the European gas network. The SGC is one of the nine priority corridors of the Trans-European Networks for Energy (TEN-E), the EU policy framework for linking infrastructures of member states. Listed among the Projects of Common Interest (PCIs), the TAP has received institutional and financial support from the EU. Starting from the Greek-Turkish border, the TAP runs through Greece, Albania, the Adriatic Sea and Italy for a total length of 878 km. The TAP ends in the municipality of Melendugno, a small town in southern Italy, where the Pipeline Receiving Terminal (PRT) is located. A further 55 km pipeline connects the PRT to the national gas grid, running across the historical region known as Salento. Only 3.7% of the whole TAP runs through Italian territory: 33 km, of which 8 onshore. The transnational pipeline was built by the Swiss-based company TAP AG, while the interconnector pipeline is being built by Snam, the Italian company that manages the national gas grid and holds a 20% stake in TAP AG.