Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 15 / Trend E. Ismayilov /
The construction operations within the Trans-Anatolia gas pipeline (TANAP) are planned to be launched by late 2013, SOCAR head Rovnag Abdullayev told media today.
The company plans to start buying land for the construction of the pipeline in 2013. All design and regulatory work within the project are conducted in parallel to accelerate its implementation, Abdullayev said.
Azerbaijan and Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement on June 26 on the project pipeline Trans-Anatolian pipeline (TANAP).
In December last year, Azerbaijan and Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a consortium that will build a gas pipeline to supply gas from the Shah Deniz field to Europe through the Turkish territory. At present, BOTAS has a 20 percent stake in TANAP, and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) - 80-percent share.
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.