Azernews.Az

By Araz Said

Turkish state pipeline company Botas will be divided into three separate state entities, Anadolu news agency reported on Wednesday.

According to the decision, made by Turkey's energy ministry, within a year Botas will be divided into a shipping company, a company running gas liquefaction plants and a company for the storage of energy resources.

Botas revenues in 2011 rose to 26.6 billion lira ($14.89 billion) compared to 17 billion lira in 2010, the company said.

Botas revenues from domestic sales totalled 25.7 billion lira while the company's sales abroad were 857 million lira last year. Losses totalled 1.5 billion lira, a significant increase from 490 million lira in 2010.

According to Botas, Turkey imported 39.7 billion cubic meters of gas in 2011.

Azerbaijan is the third biggest gas exporter to Turkey, next to Iran and Russia, but according to Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz, Turkey buys the cheapest gas from Azerbaijan.

Botas has a 20 percent stake in the proposed Azerbaijani-Turkish project TANAP (Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline), which envisages construction of a pipeline from the eastern border of Turkey to the country's western border. Azerbaijani state energy company SOCAR holds 80 percent in the project.

Initial capacity of the TANAP pipeline is expected to be 16 billion cubic meters per year. The link will carry 10 billion cubic meters of gas a year to the EU from Shah Deniz, the biggest Azerbaijani gas deposit, while Turkey will buy 6 billion cubic meters.