Azerbaijan, Baku, May 16 / Trend A.Badalova /
Ukraine is looking to take a stake of up to 10 percent in Azerbaijani-Turkish in Trans-Anatolian Pipeline Project (TANAP), Platts reported with the reference to Ukrainian ambassador to Turkey Sergiy Korsunsky.
On the sidelines of the CIS Oil and Gas Summit in Paris on Wednesday Korsunsky told reporters that Ukraine views the project as "good business", even if it fails to win any gas supplies for itself through the planned pipeline network.
Platts reported that Korsunsky was speaking at Summit in an expert capacity rather than officially on behalf of the Ukrainian government.
Azerbaijan and Turkey plan to create a pipeline from the eastern border of Turkey to the country's western border. At present the Turkish state owned energy company BOTAS has a 20 per cent stake in TANAP, while the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) holds 80 per cent in the project.
The initial capacity of the pipeline is expected to reach 16 billion cubic meters per year. About six billion cubic meters of the volume will be allocated to Turkey, while the rest will be transported to Europe.
In December, 2011 Azerbaijan and Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a consortium that will build a pipeline. Ratification of the memorandum is expected in the nearest future.
Earlier Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said that the country is ready to participate in the construction of TANAP.
According to Azarov, Ukraine is ready to make a financial contribution and provide pipes and compressor stations for this pipeline.