Trans-Adriatic Pipeline gets €1.2 billion from the EBRD

Reuters is reporting that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is funding the $40 billion (€32 billion) project to reduce the EU’s dependence on Russian gas.

The pipeline is meant to develop the ‘Southern Gas Corridor’, which the EU hopes will diversify the region’s energy supply and enhance energy security. The corridor extends over 3,500km from wells in the Caspian Sea to gas transportation infrastructure in southern Italy.

The Tran-Adriatic pipeline runs from the border between Greece and Turkey to the facilities in Italy; it is currently in the construction phase.

The Southern Gas Corridor as a whole is made up of BP’s $28 billion (€22 billion) Shah Deniz 2 development consisting of two offshore platforms and additional support infrastructure in the Caspian Sea, along with the South Caucasus Pipeline through Georgia, the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline through Turkey and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.

There has been tension between Germany and Poland recently over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will bring gas to Europe from Russia. The two countries disagreed as to the nature of the project, the former seeing it as an ‘economic project’ and the latter seeing it as a serious threat to energy security, according to Politico.