Azerbaijan, Baku, April 4 / Trend A.Badalova /
French energy major company Total may join Azerbaijan-Turkish Trans-Anatolian pipeline project (TANAP), which will transport Azerbaijani gas from the eastern border of Turkey to the country's western border, Bloomberg reported with the reference to Total E&P Azerbaijan general manager Christian Giudicelli.
According to Giudicelli, Total was invited to take part in TANAP.
"We are evaluating the Tanap proposal very seriously," Giudicelli said in an interview with Bloomberg.
At present, Turkish state-owned energy company BOTAS has 20-percent stake in TANAP, while the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) holds 80 percent in the project. However earlier, Turkey announced the possibility of increasing its stake in the project. According to Azerbaijani Minister of Industry and Energy Natig Aliyev, Azerbaijan is ready to cede part of its stake in TANAP to Turkey, if the latter wishes and is willing to fund its stake.
Azerbaijan and Turkey have already signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the consortium that will build TANAP for gas supply from Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field to Europe through Turkey.
The initial capacity of the pipeline is expected to hit 16 billion cubic meters per year. Some 6 billion cubic meters of the volume will be allocated to Turkey, while the rest will be transported to Europe.
An intergovernmental agreement on TANAP between Azerbaijan and Turkey may be signed by late April. The cost of the project will be $5 billion-$7 billion.
The construction of the pipeline is expected to start in late 2013 or early 2014.