Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Tuesday the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) would also supply Southeastern and Central Europe with gas through the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) when both are ready. Tsipras made his remarks at the groundbreaking ceremony for TAP's 550-km long Greek leg held on Tuesday afternoon. State officials from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Bulgaria and Greece and the EU Commissioner for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic were part of the ceremony. Bulgaria's Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova also attended the event, alongside Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev.

At the ceremony, Petkova pointed to the importance of TAP for her country as the IGB, a "priority" for Bulgaria, would connect it to the Bulgarian energy grid. IGB, with an initial capacity of 3 to 5 billion cubic meters of gas a year, potentially increased to 10 bcm, is expected to be up and running in mid-2018, she added. TAP is the European leg of the Southern Gas Corridor, which aims to connect the EU market to new gas sources.

With an initial annual capacity of 10 billion cubic metres of gas, the 878-km long pipeline is projected to carry gas from the giant Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to the EU market as of 2020. Both the EU and the US are hoping TAP will help reduce dependence of Europe on Russian gas currently delivered mostly via Ukraine.