Azernews.Az

The decision to ratify the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) agreement by the Azerbaijani parliament shows the concrete determination of the country to bring its gas to Europe, EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger said in a statement disseminated by the EU delegation in Baku.

"This pipeline will mean that gas is brought to Europe's border, to then freely circulate within the European Union. It is a pleasure to welcome Azerbaijan, and more especially SOCAR (State oil company), to the European Union's energy market," Oettinger said.

This week the Azerbaijani Parliament ratified an agreement on the construction of TANAP between the governments of Azerbaijan and Turkey.

The TANAP project envisages the construction of a gas pipeline from Turkey's eastern border to the western border to transport gas from Azerbaijan's offshore Shah Deniz field to Europe through Turkey.

Azerbaijani state energy firm SOCAR owns 80 percent in the TANAP project, while Turkish BOTAS holds the remaining 20 percent.

Initial capacity of TANAP is expected to be 16 billion cubic meters a year. Around 6 billion cubic meters will be delivered to Turkey, while the rest will be transported to Europe.

According to preliminary estimates, the cost of the gas pipeline will be around $7 billion. The construction of the pipeline is scheduled to begin in 2014 and finish in 2018.

Currently, the Shah Deniz consortium considers two options to deliver its gas to Europe - Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and Nabucco West. The final decision on a pipeline route will be made in 2013.

TAP project is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy and further into Western Europe.

TAP's shareholders are EGL of Switzerland (42.5 percent), Norway's Statoil (42.5 percent) and E.ON Ruhrgas of Germany (15 percent).

Nabucco West is a short-cut version of Nabucco project, which envisages construction of the pipeline from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austria.

The project's current shareholders are Bulgarian Energy Holding, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas, Austrian OMV, German RWE and Hungary's FGSZ, and each of them holds 16.67-percent share.