Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.10
By Aygun Badalova - Trend:
Kazakhstan is one of the countries that potentially can obtain a share in the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) project, Vladimir Yevseyev, director of Russian Center for Public Policy Research said.
Earlier, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz said that In the case of receiving a profitable commercial offer, Turkey may sell a part of its share in the TANAP project.
"Very close relations between Astana and Baku, Kazakhstan's significant investments suggest that the country could purchase a share in this project," the expert told Trend Apr.10.
Yevseyev added that this can happen in the case if Kazakhstan has available funds for this "under the current uneasy conditions".
Furthermore, the expert doesn't believe that Russia can be interested in obtaining a share in TANAP, since this country has no available funds to participate in the project.
"Russia doesn't have many funds and currently the implementation of the Turkish Stream project is the priority for this country," said the director, adding that at the same time, anyway, TANAP is a certain rival for Gazprom, albeit a small one.
"I believe that Russia is not likely to join this project," Yevseyev concluded.
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.
BP and the TANAP consortium signed March 13 a shareholder agreement, according to which BP will become one of the shareholders of TANAP. The agreement is one of the main documents for BP's ownership of a stake in the TANAP project.
Following the completion of a legal implementation procedure, TANAP's shareholders list will be as follows: SOCAR - 58 percent, Botas - 30 percent and BP - 12 percent.
The project's cost is estimated at $10-$11 billion.
Edited by SI
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @AygunBadalova