Azernews.Az

The Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) will help to integrate the economies of the Caucasus with those of Europe and the West generally, Investor's Business Daily (IBD) reported.

The article of Associate Director of Maguire Energy Institute Bernard Weinstein says that thanks to Azerbaijan, one of America's underappreciated allies, global energy security is about to be enhanced markedly.

According to the article, Central and East European countries stand to benefit the most from TANAP since they now have access only to Russian gas and are forced to pay 30 percent to 40 percent more than countries in Western Europe.

"The construction and operations of TANAP have numerous economic implications for Georgia and Turkey, as well as Azerbaijan. Obviously, the actual building of the pipeline will create thousands of jobs and bring billions of new spending to the region," the article says. Moreover, construction and operations of the pipeline will deepen the economic and institutional links among the three nations.

And finally, according to the article, TANAP's path through Turkey will assist Azerbaijan's business interests in Europe while enhancing Turkey's status as an "energy bridge" to Europe.

The TANAP project envisages construction of the pipeline from the eastern border of Turkey to the country's western border to supply gas from Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas field to Europe through Turkey.

The initial capacity of the pipeline is expected to reach 16 billion cubic meters a year. About six billion cubic meters will be delivered to Turkey, and the rest - to Europe.

On June 26, Azerbaijan and Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement on TANAP implementation, which was ratified by Azerbaijani Parliament in November and was recently signed by the head of the state.