Ankara offers to connect Turkish Stream, TANAP
By Nigar Abbasova
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has offered to connect the Turkish Stream pipeline, which is being developed by Russia, to the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), via which Azerbaijani gas is to be delivered to Europe in 2020, TRT Haber news channel reported on August 10.
Cavusoglu said Ankara will buy only 16 billion cubic meters of Russian gas per year via the Turkish Stream while the remaining volume of Russian gas can be exported through Turkey via TANAP by connecting it to the Turkish Stream. The minister underlined that TANAP is a priority project for Turkey.
Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst of the National Energy Security said that the mergence of the two projects will be advantageous for Russia, because the gas heading from Russia to Turkey could get into the pipe with the Azerbaijani gas and thereby the Russian gas will be supplied by an international pipeline, Vestnik Kavkaza reported.
Implementation of Turkish Stream project, which envisages gas supplies of Russia to Turkey and further to Europe bypassing Ukraine, was on the agenda during the St. Petersburg meeting of heads of states on August 9.
Realization of the project was frozen due to the deterioration of Russia-Turkey ties connected with the shoot down of a Russian Su-24 bomber with two pilots on board. Nevertheless the issue became topical following the mending of relations between the two countries.
The $10 billion TANAP pipeline is expected to transport gas of Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field from the Georgian-Turkish border to the western border of Turkey. The gas will be delivered to Turkey in 2018, and after completion of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline’s (TAP) construction, the gas will be delivered to Europe in early 2020
Earlier, Gokhan Yardim, Director General of Turkish Angoragaz Gas Company talking to Anadolu Agency said that the Turkish Stream gas pipeline is not an alternative to the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP).
Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim previously said that the TANAP project is an important and strategic project not only for Turkey, but for the whole region.
TANAP shareholders are Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR (58 percent), BOTAS (30 percent), and BP (12 percent).
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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
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