Russia still dominates European pipelines

The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline is too small to make a strategic difference to European gas supplies, especially as Russian firms move to gain more control of Caspian energy exports, writes Audrey Dubois-Hebert, a researcher at Strategic Analysis

European officials were quick to announce their support for the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (Tap) after it won the right to transport Azerbaijani gas to EU markets. Tap's selection by the consortium developing the Shah Deniz II gasfield project in the Caspian came at the expense of the EU's long-preferred option, the Nabucco project. But the consortium's logic was clear. Running 870 km westwards from the Greek-Turkish border - where it meets the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline - to San Foca in Italy, Tap was chosen because it offered a shorter and more cost-efficient route. Designed to carry 10 billion cubic metres of gas per year (cm/y) and estimated to cost $3.2bn, Tap makes commercial se