Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The Trans-Anatolian Pipeline project (TANAP) is a revolution in the energy history of Azerbaijan and Turkey as it will be implemented at the expense of finance and infrastructure of these two countries.

SOCAR Turkey Enerji head, a board member of Petkim Petrochemical Holding Kenan Yavuz made the remarks on Tuesday, adding that according to latest estimates, the cost of the TANAP project will amount $10 billion.

"Currently negotiations with international companies such as BP, Statoil and Total on assignment of interest in the TANAP project are underway," Yavuz stressed.

The TANAP project envisages construction of a pipeline from the eastern border of Turkey to the country's western border to supply gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea to Europe through Turkey. Initial capacity of the pipeline is expected to be 16 billion cubic meters per year. Around 6 billion cubic meters will be delivered to Turkey, while the rest will be transported to Europe.

According to Yavuz, it is expected that the construction work within the TANAP project will start in 2014 and the first delivery of Azerbaijani gas to Turkey will begin in 2017.

Yavuz also mentioned the importance of the TANAP project for Europe with consideration of the European Union's (EU) trends to expand the diversification of gas supply sources.

"Taking into account the problems arising between the EU and Russia -- the main gas supplier to Europe -- implementation of the TANAP project is very important for the EU," Yavuz said.

Speaking about the route to export the Azerbaijani gas received from the Shah Deniz field, Yavuz said the choice between the Nabucco West and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) projects will depend on their technical-economic feasibility and cost of these projects.

The choice of final route will be made by the Shah Deniz consortium, Yavuz said.

He mentioned that the Nabucco West project originates from the Turkish-Bulgarian border with final point of supply to Austria, while the TAP project begins from the Turkish-Greek border to Italy.

Both TAP and Nabucco West are considered by the consortium developing the Shah Deniz field as options for gas transportation to Europe. Both projects are part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which is a major energy project for the EU seeking to diversify routes and sources of supply. A final decision on the pipeline route is due to be made in June.

Nabucco West is a short-cut version of the Nabucco project, which envisages construction of a pipeline from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austria. Designated capacity of the project is up to 31 billion cubic meters per year.

The 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 initial capacity will be 10 billion cubic meters per year, but it is easily expandable to 20 billion cubic meters.