Emergency Response

TAP cooperates with national and local emergency services and other relevant agencies to ensure that the appropriate level of preparedness is identified and maintained. 

We take a ‘one-asset’ approach to emergency response and have developed cross-country emergency response policies and procedures. This includes a detailed crisis and emergency response plan covering the whole TAP system, while specific detailed emergency response plans have been further developed, including for the offshore pipeline, as well the stations in each of the countries (e.g. Compressor Station Facility Response Plan).  

TAP’s emergency response organisation is based on three tiers: 

• Tier 1 or operational level – emergency response is carried out by the emergency response team 
• Tier 2 or tactical level – emergency response is carried out by the incident management team 
• Tier 3 or strategic level: emergency response is carried out by the crisis management team  

Emergency control is managed by the TAP dispatching operations and control organisation from the supervisory control centre (SCC) at the pipeline receiving terminal (PRT) in Italy. 

We have emergency response teams within the TAP asset management organisations of each of our host countries: Greece, Albania and Italy. Roles and responsibilities are fully defined within the emergency response plans for each host country. 

The main operations and maintenance contractor in each host country provides on-field intervention necessary in case of an emergency. 

Periodically, simulated exercises involving different tier groups are organised with the purpose of promoting preparedness by testing policies, plans and personnel training. Simulation exercises help to develop, assess and test functional capabilities of emergency systems, procedures and mechanisms. External observers (a third-party company) participate in the exercises in a quality assurance role.