New parties may join TANAP

Caspian Energy (CE):  Presidents of the two countries, Azerbaijan and Turkey, launched the strategic TANAP gas pipeline on November 30.  What is its maximal carrying capacity and which new sources will join the gas pipeline in future?

Parviz Shahbazov, Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan: The key role in implementing the idea of exporting natural gas to Europe from a new source belongs to the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP). As the result of the Azerbaijan-Turkey brotherhood and friendship, the TANAP has led to the emergence of a grandiose infrastructure project such as the Southern Gas Corridor. In this sense, completion of the TANAP pipeline section linking with the EU is a landmark event. This project is an achievement of President Ilham Aliyev’s policy aimed at strengthening our country’s position on global issues such as energy security.

One of the advantages of the TANAP is that its transmission capacity and a number of project participants can be increased in future at the request of countries which wish to join the pipeline. The initial annual pipeline transmission capacity makes 16 bcm. About 4 billion cubic meters of gas has been transported via the TANAP to Turkey since July 2018 until the present day. 6 billion cubic meters of gas per year is planned to be delivered to the Turkish market via the TANAP from June 2020. The annual carrying capacity of the pipeline will reach 16 bcm starting from the end of 2021. If required, the carrying capacity of the pipeline can be increased up to 31 bcm in the next stage. There is a big potential for the expansion of TANAP. Which countries shall be sources of gas is to be decided by gas producing countries.