BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov.4
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
The Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), which is the major part of the Southern Gas Corridor, has transported more than 2.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Turkey since the start of commercial gas supplies, Ibrahim Ahmadov, deputy head of the public relations and events department at Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR, told Trend.
“The Southern Gas Corridor has already entered the operational phase in TANAP’s segment running to Turkey’s Eskisehir. The first commercial gas deliveries via TANAP started June 30, 2018 and to date, the pipeline has transported more than 2.9 billion cubic meters of gas,” he said.
Ahmadov pointed out that the funds received from gas transportation via TANAP are currently spent on financing the remaining works on this pipeline at the project level.
He went on to add that among four projects of the Southern Gas Corridor, SOCAR has been directly responsible for TANAP’s operation.
“Southern Gas Corridor megaproject consists of four main segments, namely, Shah Deniz 2 (second phase for development of Shah Deniz gas and condensate field in Azerbaijan), South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion, TANAP and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline. Among four abovementioned projects, SOCAR and the Azerbaijani side, as the majority shareholder, has been directly responsible for TANAP’s operation. This is while other segments of the Southern Gas Corridor projects are to be operated by foreign partners and consortiums. Effective management in TANAP project by SOCAR and its partners allowed to save more than $5 billion, mostly for Azerbaijani taxpayers and the Azerbaijani government,” noted Ahmadov.
The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority projects for the EU and envisages the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region through Georgia and Turkey to Europe.
The launching ceremony of the first stage of the SGC was held in Baku on May 29, 2018, while opening ceremony of TANAP was held on June 12, 2018 in Turkey’s Eskisehir city.
The gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field has already gone through the first segment of the SGC - from the Sangachal terminal to the expanded South Caucasus Pipeline.
Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) were connected on the Turkish-Greek border.
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