Baku, Azerbaijan, March 10
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
The capital expenditure on construction of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) has decreased by $2.5 billion in three years, Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natig Aliyev said in an interview with Natural Gas Europe.
"Once, we contracted to build TANAP in 2013, the capital expenditure was estimated to stand at $11.7 billion, but currently, the figure is $9.2 billion, namely $2.5 billion less than three years ago owing to declining the materials and service costs," said the minister.
Natig Aliyev noted that for now, about 938 km pipes have been produced, of which 720 km have been delivered to the construction area and 281 km have been welded.
Further, Azerbaijan's energy minister said that currently, the Shah Deniz-2 project is 66 percent complete and the South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion project is 33 percent complete.
TANAP project envisages transportation of gas of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field from Georgian-Turkish border to the western borders of Turkey.
Turkey will get gas in 2018 and after completing the construction of Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), it will be delivered to Europe in early 2020.
Currently, the shareholders of TANAP are: the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) - 58 percent, Botas - 30 percent and BP - 12 percent.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov