55 percent of TANAP construction completed
Baku, December 12, AZERTAC
The construction of the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project, which plans to carry Azerbaijani gas to Europe, is ahead of schedule and under budget by $3.2 billion, TANAP General Manager has said, Anadolu Agency reports.
The TANAP project aims to bring natural gas, produced from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz-2 gas field and other areas of the Caspian Sea, primarily to Turkey, but also on to Europe via the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
"More than half of the project, or 55 percent, of its construction was completed at the end of November and we are ahead of schedule," Saltuk Duzyol, TANAP's general manager told journalists.
He added that so far, the pipeline with 1,200 kilometers in length and with 56 inches in diameter, has been welded. In addition, a 1,570-kilometer-long area has been cleared and prepared for laying the pipeline.
"We will supply 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas by the end of June 2018 out of a total of 6 bcm to Turkey via TANAP. We will send another 2 bcm the next year followed by 2 more in 2020 as per Turkey's demand," Duzyol explained.
The TANAP starts on the Georgia-Turkey border at Ardahan city of Turkey from where it connects to the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) and ends at the Turkey-Greece border in the city of Edirne, where it feeds into the TAP Pipeline.
Duzyol also said the project consists of four phases, phase one starts from Ardahan, through to Kars, Erzurum and then onto Erzincan, Bayburt, Gumushane and Giresun. Phase two will extend to Sivas, and the third phase which will start from Yozgat city to Eskisehir city is 60 percent complete, 55 days ahead of schedule.
The last phase begins from Eskisehir and passes through Bilecik, Kutahya, Bursa, Balikesir, Canakkale, Tekirdag and Edirne until it ends at the Greek border in the Ipsala district of Edirne.
From June 2019, TANAP will deliver natural gas to Europe from the border of Turkey-Greece, Duzyol added.
The TANAP project is planned to be operational in 2018 with an initial capacity to carry 16 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Azerbaijani gas through Georgia to Turkey. While 6 bcm will be for Turkey's domestic gas consumption, the rest is destined for transfer to Greece, Albania, and Italy and further into Europe.
Azerbaijani energy giant SOCAR holds a 58 percent interest in TANAP, Turkey's BOTAS has a 30 percent share while BP owns a 12 percent stake.
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