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TANAP is important in consolidating GECF’s role in ensuring Europe’s energy security

28 December 2018 09:57 (UTC+04:00)
TANAP is important in consolidating GECF’s role in ensuring Europe’s energy security

By Trend

The Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) plays an important role in consolidating the role of Gas Exporters Countries Forum (GECF) in ensuring Europe’s energy security, GECF told Trend.

"The recent commissioning by Azerbaijan of the giant Shah Deniz 2 project, South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion and the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) is an important step to further consolidate this role of GECF countries in ensuring European energy security this year," said the organization.

In general, GECF said it believes that pipeline remains a key option to secure supply in Europe, and GECF countries play an important role in this regards.

"European consumers imported more than 90 percent of pipeline gas from five countries: Russia, Norway, Algeria, Azerbaijan and Libya, all of them are Members or Observers of the GECF. GECF is already well positioned in Europe in terms of supply of natural gas by pipeline and in LNG form. The new pipeline capacities of 143 billion cubic meters will represent 19 percent of the current European gas consumption," said the organization.

Based on projections from GECF Global Gas Outlook 2018, European demand for natural gas is projected to grow from 538 billion cubic meters in 2017 to 573 billion cubic meters in 2040, while indigenous supply is on long-term decline.

"Thus, we at GECF can understand concerns about security of supply and needs for diversification, which are central to the implemented EU Third energy package and Security of Gas Supply Regulation," said the organization.

GECF said that additional pipeline links contribute to improve this security of supply in two ways: first, they help to reduce dependence on a particular supplier, and second, they help to reduce dependence on a particular transit route. "It is worth mentioning that pipelines remain a very viable and competitive option for supplying Europe, often in more competitive way than LNG."

GECF said that there are persistent proposals from non-GECF countries to increase share of imported LNG in Europe to provide for energy security in the region.

"While some of those proposals might be competitive under certain conditions, the available numbers indicate that as a whole, proposals to ship LNG to Europe from non-GECF members remain not competitive on the market. Moreover, past experience shows that LNG can flow towards more attractive markets, in Asia particularly, and therefore might affect the security and affordability of gas supply in the region," said the organization.

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