No rerouting Trans Adriatic Pipeline, says its president

The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) taking gas from Azerbaijan to Europe will pump the first gas into Italy at the start of 2020 despite local protests against the 4.5-billion-euro project, TAP's president told Reuters.

"We are on track to deliver the gas in the first quarter of 2020," Walter Peeraer said in an interview.

TAP, the end piece of the $40 billion Southern Gas Corridor, is slated to bring up to 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas from the giant Azeri Shah Deniz II field into the small Italian seaside town of San Foca in the southern Apulia region by 2020.

But opposition from the local town council and the regional authority, as well as ongoing clashes between "no TAP" protesters and police, has caused delays and raised concerns the project could miss deadlines or even be rerouted.

EDF unit Edison and Greece's Public Gas Corporation (DEPA) have...