Azerbaijan, Baku, April 2 / Trend M.Aliyev /
Azerbaijan is ready to cede part of its stake in the Trans-Anatolian pipeline (TANAP) to Turkey, if the latter wishes and is willing to fund its stake, Azerbaijani Minister of Industry and Energy Natig Aliyev said on Monday.
He said that initially equity in a new pipeline project to transport natural gas from the eastern border of Turkey to the western side was distributed under the scheme of 80 to 20 per cent. The larger stake is owned by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and the smaller the Turkish Botas state gas pipeline company.
Earlier, Turkey announced the possibility of increasing its stake in the project. The distribution of the equity of TANAP between other parties wishing to participate in it has always been on the agenda. In particular negotiations were conducted with the shareholders of a project to develop Shah Deniz gas field in Azerbaijan to export gas from which TANAP will be designed.
The initial capacity of the pipeline is expected to hit 16 billion cubic meters per year. Some six billion cubic meters of the volume will be allocated to Turkey, while the rest will be transported to Europe.
Azerbaijan and Turkey have already signed a memorandum of understanding to establish that the consortium that will build TANAP for a gas supply from Shah Deniz gas field to Europe through Turkey. Parties involved in the project intend to resolve all issues relating to this pipeline in 2012. They also plan to start construction immediately in order to complete it by the end of 2017.