Baku, Azerbaijan, May 31
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) will need seven compressor stations in total to reach the capacity of 31 billion cubic meters of gas, head of TANAP consortium Saltuk Duzyol said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
“Frankly speaking, our design capacity is 31 billion cubic meters of gas per annum. But we are currently investing in 16 billion cubic meters of transportation capacity. We have built only two compressor stations for the moment, which are sufficient for delivery of gas to Turkey and Europe in the said amount. But when it comes to expansion, we will have to add some additional compressor units to be able to reach a capacity of 24 billion cubic meters per annum. We will have to add two more compressor stations and to be able to reach 31 billion cubic meters we will need seven compressor stations in total,” he explained.
The consortium head noted that if an expansion is foreseen by the investors to increase TANAP’s transportation capacity to 24 billion cubic meters first and then to 31 billion cubic meters, then of course, the consortium will have to hold some new tenders, new procurements for this capacity expansion.
“But first, we need to have upstream developments to be realized. If the investors have the appetite to invest in additional production capacities in Azerbaijan, of course, TANAP will have a chance to expand its existing transportation capacity. But for the moment we only have some tenders and contracts for the operation period. We have signed more than 57 contracts till now for the operation period. We are talking about a transportation agreement for 15 years. TANAP has liabilities against its shareholders and shippers. It has to be able to fulfill its operation to the highest standard possible in the market place,” added Duzyol.
The TANAP pipeline runs from the Georgian-Turkish border to the country’s western border with Greece. TANAP, together with the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), is part of the Southern Gas Corridor project, which provides the transportation of gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field to Europe.
The initial capacity of the TANAP pipeline is expected to be 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year. About 6 billion cubic meters will be supplied to Turkey, while the rest will be supplied to Europe. After the completion of the construction of TAP, gas flow to Europe will being by early 2020.
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