Trials start in Italy over controversial Trans Adriatic Pipeline

On Friday 11th September two trials started in Italy concerning, on the one hand, the local opponents to the controversial Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and, on the other hand, the company promoting the project. In one of the trials, TAP AG together with its managers in charge of the construction of the pipeline will be accused of causing environmental disasters. In the other trial, 92 people who have peacefully resisted the construction of the pipeline, if found guilty, could have to pay fines of up to EUR 240,000 and legal fees of up to EUR 70,000. 

TAP completes offshore section

TAP AG has successfully completed the 105km long offshore section of the pipeline across the Adriatic Sea. This milestone includes several deliverables, such as the offshore installation of 36-inch pipes by Castoro Sei, Saipem’s semi-submersible pipelaying vessel, the above-water-tie-in with the onshore infrastructure in Albanian waters, as well as hydrotesting the asset to ensure it is safe and ready for operations.

TAP begins testing process

TAP has begun to import natural gas in the last section of the pipeline in Greece, in the 4km section between the Greek-Albanian border, and up to the TAP metering station in Bilisht, Albania. This is part of the test operation of the project. The test operation process inspects the safety of the infrastructure according to national and international standards. Following the commission of the first section, gas will continue to be introduced into other pipeline sections in Albania and beyond in the coming weeks and months.

TAP project over 95% completed

As of April 2020, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) was 95.1% completed, according to the TAP AG Consortium. 

“TAP is currently moving further into the project construction phase. Every day hundreds of meters of TAP’s Right of Way (ROW) are cleared, strung, welded, lowered into the trenches and backfilled, in line with the project construction steps and schedule. At the end of April 2020, the TAP project was 95.1 percent completed,” said the consortium.

TAP to start filling Albanian and Italian sections with gas soon

The first gas will be introduced into the Albanian and Italian sections of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) in the coming weeks. The TAP Head of External Affairs noted that the commissioning phase is due to be completed in time for TAP to transport first gas in 2020. 

Trans Adriatic Pipeline project reaches financial closure

In December 2018 the Trans Adriatic Pipeline project reached financial closure, securing EUR 3.9 billion in project finance. The financing is provided by a group of 17 commercial banks, alongside the EBRD and the European Investment Bank (EIB). Part of the financing is covered by the export credit agencies - bpifrance, Euler Hermes and Sace (EIB press release).

More clashes and continuing tension over olive trees in Puglia, Italy

On July 4 this year, between 1am and 7am, approximately 400 police moved in to block every road in and out of the small tourist town of Melendugno in Puglia – this was done to enable TAP contractors to move 47 uprooted olive trees.

Local villagers who have been resisting TAP’s uprooting of ancient olive trees to make way for the pipeline route experienced what they say was the most heavy-handed police violence since the beginning of their resistance efforts in March this year – Melendugno’s vice-mayor was among those physically beaten by police. An authorisation document signed by the TAP company included a commitment not to carry out TAP-related work during the tourism season and until the end of September. A short video clip containing testimonies about what took place on the night of July 4, including from the deputy mayor of Melendgno Simone Dima, is available here.

This is a further example of the company’s bad faith in Italy as it brazenly attempts to stick to its schedule, and it has provoked yet further tensions with the local community, who are now anticipating an escalation of police involvement in late September. Four more formal complaints – in addition to those noted already in the Counter Balance and BankTrack analysis published in February – have been lodged about the implementation of the TAP project at the European Investment Bank by complainants in Italy.

Major Italian media investigation reveals TAP linkages to politically exposed persons and offshore vehicles

An investigation published on 20 April 2017 by L’Espresso, Italy’s top weekly publication, uncovered the web of companies and shareholders linked to both the TAP and TANAP projects.

‘The pipeline of the three regimes’ investigation uncovered a web of connections to the regimes of President Erdogan in Turkey and of President Aliyev in Azerbaijan, including via family members and politically exposed persons. The investigation – available here in English translation – also establishes connections to offshore vehicles that were first identified as part of the Panama Papers.

Civil society organisations have brought these matters to the attention of the European Investment Bank. Private banks which may be considering involvement in TAP are advised, in this murky context, to carry out reinforced due diligence ahead of any decision on TAP financing – in order to avoid supporting a project whose real beneficiaries may be politically exposed persons directly linked to autocratic regimes and companies registered in offshore jurisdictions.

Tensions increasing in Greece, where residents’ demands are going unheard

In Greece, the Farmers’ Association in Kavala filed a complaint to the European Investment Bank in August 2015 – to date this complaint has not been heard. EIB staff visited Kavala in October 2016, however they failed to address the issues in question which had been raised by the Farmers’Association nor did they facilitate any kind of solution with the Greek government and the TAP consortium.

Currently there is 10 kilometres of land where construction is blocked because the land owners have not been informed or consulted during the environmental impact assessment or at any stage thereafter, and have pressed charges against the company for violation of private property and damage. In the Greek context of economic and financial crisis, where agriculture remains one of the very few sectors which allows people to earn a living, the farmers’ demands are more than reasonable and should be heard. Moreover, the range of security and health issues which have been raised by many other voices opposing the project, as well as the project’s economic underpinnings (the Greek state could be asked to provide a public guarantee for any public or private loans agreed for TAP) are an extra concern in Greece. In July, a further issue concerning the TAP project’s use of water has emerged, in the context of the water crisis which Greek agriculture is currently facing.

Oil price and Russian pressure put Azerbaijan’s strategic gas project at risk – Chatham House

A recent assessment (19 July 2017) from an associate of The Royal Institute of International Affairs/Chatham House in London points to the “faltering finances” of the Southern Gas Corridor as a whole and questions the financial credibility of the Corridor’s component parts (TAP and TANAP) given the acute economic downturn currently being experienced by Azerbaijan.