Gas pipelines between Europe, Russia and Caucasia

Updated on 04.25.2022

5 min read

Middle School

History, geography and geopolitics

Russia is Europe’s main natural gas supplier. In 2021, it provided approximately 45% of European imports. It is followed by Norway (24%), Algeria (11%) and, to a lesser extent, the United Kingdom, the United States and Qatar. Since the end of 2020, Europe has been seeking to increase imports from Azerbaijan on the Caspian sea. Gas is transported mainly in gas pipelines, although deliveries by LNG carriers are on the increase. How is the network organized?

Gas pipelines between Europe, Russia and Caucasia

BACK TO PIPELINES FROM RUSSIA/CIS

TAP (TRANS ADRIATIC PIPELINE)

PIPELINE

Commissioned : end 2020
Capacity : 10 Gm ³ /yr,
doubled later on
Length : 880 km
Origin of gas : Azerbaijan
Route (from Turkey) : Bulgaria - Greece – Albania – Adriatic Sea – Italy
It completes the Southern Gas Corridor, running under the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy.

FILTERS

Select a type of gas pipeline,
then select a route

Sources : Gazprom export ; Gazprom ; Tanap ; Trans Adriatic
Pipeline ; BP ; Natural Gas Europe ; Nord Stream ; South
Stream Transport 5éme Gauche for planete-energies.com

Back to pipelines from Russia/CIS

Pipeline NORD STREAM

Nord Stream 1

Commissioned: October 2012

Capacity: 55 Gm ³ /yr

Length: 1,224 km

Gas source: Western Siberia, through the Gryazovets-Vyborg gas pipeline (917 km) connected to Yamal.

Route (from Russia): under the Baltic Sea, from Vyborg to Greifswald (Germany)

Nord Stream 2

The project kicked off in 2018 was intended to double the gas transport capacity, following the same route under the Baltic Sea. The gas pipeline was completed at the end of 2021, but the authorization for its commissioning was suspended at the end of February 2022, at the outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine.

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Pipeline YAMAL EUROPE

Commissioned: 2006

Capacity: 33bcm/yr

Length: 2,800 km in Russia, around 4,000 km in all

Gas source: Yamal Peninsula in the Kara Sea

Route (from Russia): Belarus – Poland – Germany

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Pipeline BROTHERHOOD

Commissioned: 1967

Capacity: 100 bcm/yr

Length: around 4,000 km long

Gas source : the north of Western Siberia and the Volga Basin (Soyuz branch)

Route (from Russia) : Ukraine – Slovakia, then splits into two branches:
Czech Republic – Germany/Benelux/France and Austria – Italy/Slovenia/Croatia

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Pipeline BLUE STREAM

Commissioned: February 2003

Capacity: 16 bcm/yr

Length: 1,213 km

Gas source: Russia

Route (from Russia): under the Black Sea, from Beregovya to Samsun (Turkey)

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Pipeline NABUCCO

Project kicked off in 2002 by the European Union, but currently at a standstill.

It was to link the countries of the Caspian Sea to Central Europe, via Turkey and Romania.

It was gradually supplanted by the Southern Gas Corridor (SCP-TANAP-TAP).

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Pipeline TAP (TRANSADRIATIC PIPELINE)

Commissioned: end 2020

Capacity: 10 Gm³/yr, doubled later on

Length: 880 km

Gas source: Azerbaijan

Route (from Turkey) : Bulgaria - Greece - Albania - Adriatic Sea - Italy

It completes the Southern Gas Corridor, running under the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy.

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Pipeline TANAP (TRANS-ANATOLIAN NATURAL GAS PIPELINE)

Inauguration: December 2019

Capacity: 10 Gm³/yr, doubled later on

Length: 1,850 km

Route: Georgian border – crosses Anatolia in its entirety - Greek border (Ipsala).

Gas source: Azerbaijan

This gas pipeline is part of the chain called the “Southern Gas Corridor” that supplies Europe with Azerbaijani gas.

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Pipeline SCP (SOUTH CAUCASUS PIPELINE)

Inauguration: 2018

Capacity: 10 Gm³/yr, doubled later on

Length: 1,841 km

Connects to the TANAP gas pipeline

Gas source: Azerbaijan

Route: Baku – Tbilisi (Georgia) - Erzurum (Turkey)

This gas pipeline is part of the chain called the “Southern Gas Corridor” that supplies Europe with Azerbaijani gas.

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Pipeline TURKSTREAM

Inauguration: January 2020 by Russian and Turkish leaders

Capacity: 32 Gm³/yr (part of which is intended for Europe)

Length: around 920 km under the Black Sea

Gas source: Russia

Route: Anapa (Russia) - Kiykoy (Eastern Thrace) - Ipsala (at the Greek border)

TurkStream has replaced a more ambitious Russian project, South Stream, that was to carry gas right to the heart of Europe. Competition with the European Nabucco project led to the Russian project being abandoned.

Sources : Gazprom export ; Gazprom ; Tanap ; Trans Adriatic
Pipeline ; BP ; Natural Gaz Europe ; Nord Stream ; South
Stream Transport 5éme Gauche for planete-energies.com

To the North

Brotherhood. During the Soviet Union era, 80% of Russian natural gas transited through the Brotherhood gas pipeline (completed by Soyuz), which passes through Ukraine. After the collapse of the U.S.S.R. (1991), the pipeline survived, but frequent tensions between Ukraine and Russia led to a search for alternative routes, both to the north and the south.

Yamal. Located further north, Yamal (4,000 km) passes through Belarus and Poland. Transportation by this route progressively increased until 2006.

Nord Stream. As from 2005, Russia and Germany began the construction of a gas pipeline to link the two countries directly, running under the Baltic sea and bypassing Belarus, Ukraine and Poland. Nord Stream 1 (1,230 km) was inaugurated in 2011. A second pipeline, Nord Stream 2, overtaking the first, has been completed, but commissioning was suspended in 2022 owing to the Russia-Ukraine war.

To the South

Blue Stream – Since 2003, the Blue Stream pipeline (1,213 km - 400 km of which run under the Black Sea), supplies Turkey. Russia was planning on expanding capacity under the Black Sea with the South Stream pipeline, designed to run right to the center of Europe, but abandoned the project at the end of 2014. It was the Nord Stream’s twin, bypassing the Ukraine.

Turk Stream – Russia fell back on a more modest project. In January 2020, it inaugurated Turk Stream, and it was up to European countries to collect the gas at the border between Turkey and Greece.

Toward the Caspian Sea

Nabucco - the European Union had for some time entertained the idea of building a lengthy pipeline, which would link up with natural gas-producing countries around the Caspian Sea, and even Iran. It began in 2002, to relieve the dependency on Russian gas, but its construction is currently bogged down. It has been replaced by the Southern Gas Corridor, comprising a further three gas pipelines.

SCP (South Caucasus Pipeline) – 692 km long, it links Azerbaijan to Turkey, and runs through Georgia.

TANAP (Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline). It carries gas from the Caspian Sea through Turkey to Europe.

TAP (Trans Adriatic Pipeline) – Opened at the end of 2020, and 878 km long, it completes the Southern Gas Corridor, crossing through Bulgaria, Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before reaching Southern Italy. Azerbaijan to send gas to Europe at the end of 2021.