Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 25
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
The Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP), the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) projects will connect the Caucasus with the Balkans, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted Feb. 25 by TRT Haber TV channel as saying.
"These projects will help turn Turkey into a regional energy center," he said.
Davutoglu said that Turkey intends to continue implementing the energy projects in the future.
The TANAP project envisages the transportation of gas of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field from the Georgian-Turkish border to the western borders of Turkey. TANAP's initial capacity is expected to reach 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
Around six billion cubic meters of this gas will be delivered to Turkey and the rest of the volume to Europe. Turkey will obtain gas in 2018. The gas will be supplied to Europe in early 2020 after the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is constructed. The project's cost is estimated at $10-$11 billion.
Contracts for the supply of pipes for the construction of TANAP were signed in Turkey's Ankara city on Oct.14 with six Turkish and one Chinese company.
Turkey's Mannesmann-Noksel-Erciyas and Umran-Emek consortiums, and Toscelik Profil ve Sac Endustrisi, as well as the Chinese contractor Baosteel Europe won the tender for the supply of pipes for the TANAP project.
All the companies that will participate in the construction and supply of the TANAP project in Turkey are exempt from the VAT.
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