Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, July 3
By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend:
The completion of the work over the draft convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea has significantly increased the investment attractiveness of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), the "Turkmengaz" State Concern said in a statement.
"The signing of the convention will allow to lay the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline on the seabed, through which Turkmen natural gas will "flow" into the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC)," the message says.
The message also notes that, the World Bank has provided to "Southern Gas Corridor" CJSC a loan of $750 million to finance the construction of the Trans-Anatolian pipeline (TANAP).
TANAP is designed to supply gas from Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey and further to the Greek border, where it will be continued by the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline (TAP).
It is expected that, the gas from the Caspian region will reach the countries of southern Europe by 2019-2020.
Turkey has previously expressed interest in Turkmenistan's participation in the TANAP project, the Turkish Ambassador Mustafa Kapucu told local media earlier.
"The TANAP project is very important for strengthening the energy security of Europe, and all the countries through which the gas pipeline will be laid are interested in Turkmenistan as a participant of the SGK (Southern Gas Corridor) project," the diplomat said.
Kapucu noted that all interested parties are waiting for the signing of the Caspian Convention and determination of the status of the Caspian Sea. The opportunity to build a pipeline from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan along the bottom of the Caspian Sea and to supply Turkmen gas to Europe through TANAP will increase the profitability of the project, the ambassador said.
"The Trans-Caspian gas pipeline project has not been removed from the agenda," the chairman said, noting that, in this context, the East-West main domestic pipeline, oriented to export supplies as well, has already been laid in Turkmenistan.
Negotiations on the delivery of Turkmen gas to Europe have been underway since 2011.
The first commercial gas supplies to Turkey began within the "Southern Gas Corridor" project on June 30.
The opening ceremony of TANAP was held on June 12 in the Turkish province of Eskisehir with the participation of the presidents of Azerbaijan - Ilham Aliyev, Turkey - Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ukraine - Petro Poroshenko and Serbia - Alexander Vucic.
The launch ceremony of the first phase of the Southern Gas Corridor project was held in Baku on May 29.
Thus, the first gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field has already gone through the first segment of the Southern Gas Corridor - from the Sangachal terminal expanded for Shah Deniz-2 to the expanded South Caucasus gas pipeline. The commissioning of the TANAP gas pipeline, through which the gas will enter the territory of Turkey and will go further to Europe, has become the next stage of the project.
The TANAP pipeline has been laid from the Georgian-Turkish border till the Western border of Turkey. TANAP together with another - Transadriatic (TAP) gas pipeline is a part of the "Southern Gas Corridor" project, which provides for the transportation of gas from the Azerbaijani "Shah Deniz" field to Europe.
The initial capacity of TANAP is expected to be 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year. About six billion cubic meters will be supplied to Turkey, and the rest - to Europe. After completion of the TAP, the gas will reach Europe in early 2020.
The share distribution in TANAP is as follows: Southern Gas Corridor CJSC - 51 percent, SOCAR Turkey Enerji - 7 percent, Botas - 30 percent, and BP - 12 percent.