Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Azerbaijan and Turkey will sign an agreement on increase of Turkey's share in the Trans-Anatolian (TANAP) gas pipeline project.

The agreement will be signed by Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natig Aliyev and his Turkish counterpart Taner Yildiz in Istanbul on May 30.

After signing the agreement, Turkey's share in the TANAP project will reach 30 percent, Trend Agency reported with reference to the world media.

Currently, Turkey's share in TANAP is equal to 20 percent.

SOCAR has repeatedly expressed its intention to retain at least 51 of the 80 percent share in the TANAP project. The British BP, the operator of the development project of the giant Shah Deniz gas condensate field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, has decided to purchase a 12 percent share in the project.

TANAP, developed by Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR in collaboration with Turkish Botas and the energy company TPAO, will deliver Shah Deniz gas to the Turkish-Greek border from eastern Turkey.

The initial capacity of the pipeline will be 16 billion cubic meters of gas a year. TANAP will link up with Trans-Adriatic (TAP) pipeline on the Turkish-Greek border.

About six billion cubic meters of gas will be delivered to Turkey and the rest to Europe. TANAP shareholders plan to lay the pipeline's foundation in the second quarter of 2014, and commission it in 2018. The costs of the TANAP project are estimated at $10 billion to $11 billion.