Baku, October 11, AZERTAC

The countdown has begun to finance the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project with TANAP partners Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ) and the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) holding talks on the financing agreement with the World Bank, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Agreements will be signed by the end of the year or the first quarter next year at the latest, according to Daily Sabah.

Launched in March 2014, the TANAP Project should be finalized in June 2018. The project will be one of the most important topics relating to energy security addressed in the World Energy Congress. TANAP General Manager Saltuk Düzyol said one section of the pipeline project, spanning from Eskişehir to the Turkish-Greek border and passing through the Dardanelles, would be in use at the beginning of 2020 and start transporting natural gas to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP). According to Düzyol, the final investment decision on the project was based on an estimated cost of $11.7 billion. However, a nearly 25-percent cost advantage was achieved in the project's engineering, purchasing and constructing agreements due to the impact of the global economic recession and a fall in oil and other commodity and service prices. He added, "TANAP can be considered a much more efficient project than TAP and the South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion (SCPX), which are other constituents of the SGC, and their latest equivalents in the world."

Touching on claims that other countries might be involved in the pipeline project, Düzyol said the only point of entry for the pipeline is the village of Türkgözü in Ardahan province on the Turkish-Georgian border. He noted that it would be possible to receive natural gas from Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and other countries at this point and deliver it to Turkish and European markets. If the Host Government Agreement is revised to ensure multiple points of natural gas entry, it will be possible to carry Iraqi, Qatari and Levantine natural gas, too. Düzyol stated that they would emphasize energy supply security during the World Energy Congress that started yesterday in Istanbul and ends Oct. 13.