TANAP poses no environmental threat
By Aynur Jafarova
The Trans-Anatolian (TANAP) gas pipeline project does not pose any threat to the environment, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz was quoted by local Turkish TV channel on December 9.
“Despite the importance of TANAP for Turkey, the route of the pipeline section, passing through the territory of the country, was slightly changed to minimize its impact on the environment,” he said.
Earlier, some Turkish media reported that the project allegedly poses a threat to the environment.
TANAP, developed by 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. The costs of the TANAP project are estimated at $10 billion to $11 billion.
Works on TANAP successfully underway
Head of Azerbaijan’s state energy company SOCAR RovnagAbdullayev told journalists on December 8 that works on the TANAP project are successfully underway.
“The project has completed tenders for the supply of pipelines.
The announcement of the construction tenders has already been
made,” he noted.
The SOCAR head also said the foundation of the Turkish stretch of
TANAP gas pipeline will be laid in the first quarter next year.
No appeal from Russia
Abdullayev went on adding that SOCAR, which is the owner of the
controlling block of shares in TANAP, hasn’t received any appeal on
the possible transportation of Russian gas via TANAP.
Earlier, Russia abandoned the implementation of the project for
construction of South Stream gas pipeline and decided to lay a
route through Turkey’s territory. The possibility of using the
TANAP pipeline for the planned delivery of Russian gas to the
Turkey-Greece border was discussed as well.
Abdullayev said the transportation of Russian gas via TANAP was not
taken into account during the design-driven study, adding that this
issue can be considered after receiving a corresponding appeal.
Commenting on Russia’s abandonment of the South Stream project and
the possible impact of this on the projects aimed at supplying the
Azerbaijani gas within Southern Gas Corridor, SOCAR president said
that these projects have never been rivals, since each of them has
its own market.
“We don’t see any problems hindering the implementation of Southern
Gas Corridor project,” Abdullayev said. “The implementation of all
the projects within the Southern Gas Corridor is successfully
continuing.”
The gas which will be produced at the second stage of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field development will be the main source of Southern Gas Corridor, which envisages the transportation of the Caspian gas to European markets.