BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 3. The timeline for the capacity of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) reaching above 20 billion cubic meters is primarily driven by market developments, TAP Managing Director Luca Schieppati said in an exclusive interview with Trend ahead of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council’s meeting in Baku.
He pointed out that the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council is a key forum that brings together representatives from all over the world, international organisations, financial institutions and the energy industry, providing a platform to reflect on the strategic relevance of the Corridor as critical infrastructure underpinning Europe’s energy security and supply diversification.
“In 2025, TAP achieved several important milestones, from reaching the 50 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas transported to Europe, to completing five years of operations and successfully delivering the first level of expansion on time and within budget without interrupting continuous gas flows. This performance would not have been possible without close coordination with national regulatory authorities, the governments of our host countries, European Union institutions, adjacent TSOs and upstream partners, demonstrating the importance of cooperation across the broader gas network. So, in this context, the SGC Advisory Council provides an important opportunity to engage directly with these partners and exchange views on the future of this strategic energy corridor,” said the managing director.
Schieppati pointed out that since the start of the year, TAP has been making available the additional 1.2 billion cubic meters per year (bcm/a) of long-term capacity booked during the 2021 Market Test.
“This additional long-term capacity has been enabled through the successful completion of project works at TAP’s compressor station in Greece, delivering the first level of capacity expansion. Initiated in January 2024, the project was completed on time and safely demonstrating TAP’s operational resilience, strong planning discipline, and execution excellence. Provided there is interest from the market, TAP has the potential to further increase its capacity, with the ability to reach over 20 bcm per year.
Any further expansion could be initiated through an open, transparent and non-discriminatory market test process, held at least every two years. The scale and timing of any additional expansion will depend on the level of accumulated binding capacity requests received during a market test and their economic viability. So, the timeline for reaching capacity level above 20 bcm per year is primarily driven by market developments,” he explained.
The managing director recalled that the 2025 Market Test, launched in July, is currently ongoing.
“TAP offers capacity for short-term products to the market through the PRISMA capacity booking platform and in line with the ENTSOG Auction Calendar,” he added.
As for the volumes delivered, Schieppati noted that since the start of the operations, the pipeline has transported over 55.7 bcm to Europe. “Of this, 46.4 bcm was delivered to Italy, 5.3 bcm to Greece, 3.7 to Bulgaria. So far in 2026 we have delivered over 1.5 bcm to Europe. (cut-off date: 21 February 2026).”
Regarding emission reduction policy, the managing director noted that TAP fully recognises its role in supporting Europe’s energy transition, alongside its contribution to energy security.
“In parallel with its operational mandate, TAP is in a decarbonisation pathway for its own operations. As part of TAP’s Long-Term Energy Transition Strategy towards 2050, the Company implemented a Carbon Management Plan covering the period 2022–2025. This plan included more than 50 initiatives designed to reduce TAP’s carbon footprint by 5%, methane emissions by 8% compared to forecast levels, and fugitive emissions by 54% compared to LDAR baseline data over the same period.
TAP is well on track to meet its near-term targets. In 2025, TAP achieved an overall reduction of more than 25% in greenhouse gas emissions and over 50% in methane emissions compared to forecast, as well as a reduction of more than 85% in fugitive emissions compared to the baseline data. Our decarbonisation efforts focus on reducing direct CO₂ emissions through energy-efficiency measures, electrification studies, the potential use of hydrogen and biomethane, and the implementation of a Methane Emissions Reduction Plan, with the objective of achieving OGMP 2.0 Gold Standard later this year,” Schieppati concluded.