Azernews.Az

Azerbaijani-Turkish trans-Anatolian natural gas pipeline (TANAP) and the trans-Caspian conduit in combination can turn Azerbaijan into a key provider of energy security to Europe, a leading analyst at a Washington-based think-tank says.

"The trans-Anatolian and trans-Caspian pipelines are projects in synergy," Vladimir Socor, Senior Fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, said in his publication, posted on the Foundation's website.

Socor said that from Ashgabat's perspective, TANAP becomes the post-Nabucco outlet for Turkmen gas to European countries.

"Ashgabat shares Baku's view that this bilateral project can be legally implemented, without necessitating other Caspian countries' consent," Socor said.

He believes that though formally TANAP is not a component of the Southern Gas Corridor of pipelines, in practical terms it has become de facto a segment of the corridor to Europe. It is, moreover, the corridor's most viable segment, on four counts: self-financed, guaranteed with first-stage gas supplies, and scalable up to 30 billion cubic meters per year, accommodating Turkmen gas volumes as these become available, Socor stressed.

TANAP envisages construction of a pipeline with the initial capacity at 16 billion cubic meters per year from the eastern border of Turkey to the country's western border.

Socor says that with TANAP as a prospective outlet, Turkmenistan can advance the construction of its East-West pipeline (with annual capacity of 30 bcm) overland, from the gas fields in Turkmenistan's east to the Caspian shore. The overland pipeline is planned to link up with the proposed pipeline on the Caspian seabed.

The 300-kilometer trans-Caspian pipeline will be laid from the Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan where it will be linked to the Southern Gas Corridor.

There is no direct agreement on the implementation of the trans-Caspian gas pipeline project yet. However, in September 2011 the European Union issued a mandate to start talks to reach an agreement with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan on building the conduit.

The two resource-rich Caspian littoral states and the European Union are drafting a political document to support the Southern Gas Corridor as well as an inter-governmental agreement on the trans-Caspian gas pipeline. The documents are expected to be ready before the end of the year.

The Southern Gas Corridor is a priority EU energy project diversifying energy supply routes and sources and increasing EU energy security.