Baku, October 15 (AZERTAC). Turkish and Azerbaijani companies and government officials have inked a contract to supply the steel pipe for Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline system (TANAP), according to Today`s Zaman.

Turkish steel pipe producers Toscelik, Borusan Mannesmann, Erciyas Boru, Emek, Umran and Noksel had previously won the tender to supply steel pipes for the planned Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline. The project aims to carry the rich gas resources of Azerbaijan to energy-hungry European countries.

Representatives from the supplier companies met senior Turkish government officials, including Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Energy Minister Taner Yıldız, along with State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) President Rovnag Abdullayev in Ankara.

Tuesday's contract covers the supply of 1,800-kilometer steel pipes for the construction of the TANAP project over a four-year period. The Turkish companies will supply approximately 1.2 million tons of steel pipe for TANAP -- 80 percent of the total -- and earn an estimated $3 billion. China's Baosteel will provide the remainder of the pipes. The initial capacity of the pipeline is expected to reach 16 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year. Approximately 6 billion cubic meters of the volume will be allocated to Turkey, while the rest will be transported to Europe. The first flow of gas to Turkey is scheduled for the second half of 2018, and Ankara plans to start pumping the Azerbaijani gas to Europe in 2019.

A year after a decision to establish a consortium to build a gas pipeline to supply gas from the Shah Deniz field to Europe through Turkish territory, Azerbaijan and Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement on TANAP in June 2012. Mr. Yıldız said in Ankara that the estimated cost of TANAP is $45 billion and that Turkey will employ more than 5,000 people in 21 separate provinces on the pipeline route. Mr. Davutoğlu also said Ankara and Baku planned to increase TANAP's capacity to 31 bcm per year by 2026. In June this year, the state-owned Turkish Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ) and SOCAR agreed to increase the Turkish share of TANAP from 20 to 30 percent.