Azerbaijan increases gas exports to Turkey in 2019

29 December 2019 14:56 (UTC+04:00)

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By Rasana Gasimova

Azerbaijan exported 7 billion 795 million cubic meters of natural gas to Turkey in January-October 2019, which is 268 million cubic meters more compared to the same period in 2018.

In October, Azerbaijan topped the list of countries exporting gas to Turkey. Thus, gas exports to Turkey amounted to 932 million cubic meters in October, versus 113 million cubic meters in September.

Azerbaijan exports its natural gas to Turkey through the South Caucasus Pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum) and TANAP. Launched in 2006, the South Caucasus Pipeline supplies the gas from Shah Deniz field to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. During the first 9 months of 2019, the combined daily average capacity of the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) and the South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion (SCPX) amounted to over 28 million cubic meters.

In January-September 2019, the SCP spent approximately $33 million on its operations and $ 28 million on capital expenditure. The pipeline has two operators - BP is a technical operator responsible for the construction and operation of the pipeline’s facilities, and SOCAR is a commercial business operator.

The investors to the South Caucasus Pipeline Company are: BP (operator – 28,8 percent), AzSCP (10 percent), South Gas Corridor Midstream (6,7 percent), Petronas (15,5 percent), LUKoil (10 percent), NICO (10 percent), and TPAO (19 percent).

The TANAP pipeline, commissioned in Eskişehir, began transporting Azerbaijani natural gas to Turkey on June 2018. Up to 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas has been transported to Turkey by TANAP.

Some 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas were transported to Turkey by TANAP this year, and 4 billion cubic meters and 6 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas will be transported to Turkey in 2020 and 2021, respectively. The second phase of the TANAP pipeline was commissioned on November 30, 2019.

Some 51 percent of TANAP’s shares belong to Southern Gas Corridor CJSC, 7 percent to STEAS, 30 percent to BOTAS, and 12 percent to BP.

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