The Azerbaijani parliament ratified an agreement on the construction of a separate gas pipeline to transport gas to Turkey through its territory, as well as an agreement on the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline system (TANAP) between the governments of Azerbaijan and Turkey last week.
As the deputy speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament, Valeh Alesgerov said during discussions, Azerbaijan, which previously had no access beyond its borders, currently transports its hydrocarbons to the world market using seven pipelines.
"There is a need for new projects to transport Azerbaijani gas to the European market. A new gas pipeline will be constructed based on already held negotiations," he said.
According to Alesgerov, there is a need to construct a gas pipeline that will allow the transportation of Azerbaijani gas and that of other Caspian countries in the future, the volume of which will be increased as a result of discovering new reserves.
"Many projects, which envisage supplies of gas to Europe, have been discussed, but no one had the courage to implement any of these projects. However, Azerbaijan has made such a decision. It has begun implementing a project that will ensure connection to Europe's gas pipelines," Alesgerov said.
Azerbaijan and Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement on June 26 on the project Trans-Anatolian pipeline (TANAP).
In December last year, Azerbaijan and Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a consortium that will build a gas pipeline to supply gas from the Shah Deniz field to Europe through Turkish territory. At present, BOTAS has a 20 per cent stake in TANAP and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) an 80 per cent share.
The initial capacity of the pipeline is expected to reach 16 billion cubic meters per year.
About six billion cubic meters of the volume will be allocated to Turkey, while the rest will be transported to Europe.
Azerbaijan and Turkey will do everything for the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline system (TANAP) to become a reality, Bloomberg reported with the reference to SOCAR Deputy Vice-president Vitaliy Baylarbayov.
"Turkey and Azerbaijan will do everything to ensure that this pipeline becomes a reality because Azerbaijan's gas reserves cannot be developed without a dedicated pipeline," Baylarbayov said.
He mentioned that Statoil, BP and Total, which are SOCAR partners on the project of developing the Azerbaijani gas condensate field Shah Deniz are yet to agree to buy a stake in TANAP.
"The most important thing is to realize that no matter whether they join the project or not, it will not in any manner delay the implementation of TANAP," Baylarbayov said.