Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 6
By Maksim Tsurkov – Trend:
The issue of granting loans by international financial institutions for the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) project will be resolved by late 2016, Saltuk Duzyol, head of TANAP consortium, said in an interview with Turkish Sabah newspaper Oct. 6.
TANAP is being built in Turkey to transport Azerbaijani gas to Europe.
Duzyol added that the negotiations on the financing of the project, which will become one of the important topics of the upcoming World Energy Congress in Istanbul Oct. 9-13, are under completion.
"Botas and Southern Gas Corridor CJSC are negotiating with the World Bank (WB), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB),” he said. “The agreements will be signed by late 2016 or, at the latest, in the first quarter of 2017."
He added that the project cost has decreased by 25 percent during implementation.
"TANAP’s initial cost was $11.7 billion,” he said. “However, 25 percent of the funds were saved due to the decline in oil prices, services and other products during the project implementation. This concerns not only TANAP, but also other projects within the Southern Gas Corridor."
Duzyol added that TANAP will be one of the main topics of discussion at the World Energy Congress.
"The countries’ energy security will be one of the most important items on the agenda of the World Energy Congress,” he said. “Today TANAP ensures a variety of sources and routes of gas supply. We plan to emphasize TANAP’s importance for Turkey and the EU in terms of energy security."
Duzyol has not ruled out the possibility that Turkmenistan, Iraq, Qatar and the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean region can join TANAP.
TANAP project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field to the western borders of Turkey. The length of TANAP is 1800 kilometers with the initial capacity of 16 billion cubic meters.
Around six billion cubic meters of this gas will be delivered to Turkey and the remaining volume will be supplied to Europe.
The gas will be delivered to Turkey in 2018, and after completion of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline’s construction, the gas will be delivered to Europe in early 2020.
TANAP shareholders are Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR (58 percent), BOTAS (30 percent) and BP (12 percent).
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