BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 29
By Anastasia Savchenko – Trend:
The opening ceremony of the second phase (Phase 1) of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) is an important event for Azerbaijan as the full throughput of the pipeline of 16 billion cubic meters of gas means commercial profit for the country, Director of Eurasia Analytics consulting company Gulmira Rzayeva told Trend.
Rzayeva was commenting on the issue regarding the opening ceremony of the second phase of TANAP.
"This event also shows that the TANAP consortium meets the deadline," the director added. "So, the gas pipeline will transport gas from Azerbaijan to Turkey, as well as to Europe in a timely manner."
"Gas has already been transported to the Turkish market, to Eskisehir city, since the end of June 2018," the expert added.
Rzayeva emphasized that TANAP should be seen in the Southern Gas Corridor segment.
"As for the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), this pipeline must begin to operate by October 2020 in accordance with the contract," the expert said.
Rzayeva also added that presently, there is a great interest of companies, namely of those regions willing to transport their gas through TAP.
"After the TAP market test (long-term market research of the demand for gas in Italy and other countries to which gas is transported), a decision was made to increase the throughput of the gas pipeline from 10 billion cubic meters of gas up to 20 billion cubic meters," Rzayeva said.
"Europe needs Azerbaijani gas," the expert said. "Europe wants to diversify its gas sources. It does not want to depend on one supplier while the Southern Gas Corridor fully meets these requirements."
"The demand for Azerbaijani gas in Europe will continue for a long time," Rzayeva said. "Azerbaijani gas will play an important role especially in Eastern and Southeast Europe, as well as in the Balkans and Central Europe in the future."
Opening ceremony of TANAP's Georgian-Turkish border-Eskishehir section took place on June 12, 2018, in the Turkish province of Eskisehir, and commercial gas deliveries to Turkey began in late June 2018.
The volume of gas transportation to Turkey via TANAP has reached 3.08 billion cubic meters (bcm) since the start of commercial gas supplies on June 30, 2018, as of late October 2019.
The initial capacity of TANAP, which is the main segment of the Southern Gas Corridor, is 16 billion cubic meters of gas.
Around six billion cubic meters of this gas will be supplied to Turkey while the remaining volume - to Europe. After the completion of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) construction, gas will be supplied to Europe in early 2020.
The share distribution of TANAP shareholders is as follows: Southern Gas Corridor CJSC - 51 percent, SOCAR Turkey Enerji - 7 percent, Botas - 30 percent, BP - 12 percent.
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