Azernews.Az

The proposed Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) if scaled may effectively match the Nabucco pipeline, a senior Canadian analyst has said.

"The most recent idea for TANAP suggests that it is scaled up from 16-18 billion cubic meters per year (bcm/y) to 30 bcm/y, which effectively matches the original Nabucco proposal for 31 bcm/y," Robert Cutler, senior research fellow at the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at Carleton University, told Azerbaijan’s Trend news agency via e-mail.

TANAP is a proposed Azerbaijan-Turkish project which envisages construction of a pipeline from the eastern border of Turkey to the country's western border. Azerbaijan and Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a consortium that will build the gas pipeline. The cost of TANAP will be set by Azerbaijani state energy firm Socar and may be close to $5 billion.

The expert said the recent exploration of gas fields in Azerbaijan's offshore Absheron, Babek, Nakhchivan, Umid and Zafar-Mashal blocks does make it possible to proceed in the longer run with TANAP, without depending upon gas from Turkmenistan.

Azerbaijan considers three proposals on the transportation of its gas to Europe - Nabucco, Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and South East Europe Pipeline (SEEP).

Along with Azerbaijan, Iraq and Turkmenistan are considered by Europe as potential fuel suppliers in the Nabucco pipeline project. In order to supply Turkmen gas to Azerbaijan the sides are considering the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline (TCGP) project, which involves laying a subsea pipeline from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan.

"The prospects and chances for TCGP implementation are neither better nor worse than before and they depend, as always, upon details of the bilateral Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan negotiations, which the European Council is now formally facilitating," Cutler added.