Country Turkey Owner TANAP project company Construction started 2015 | Type Natural gas Operator SOCAR | |
 | ||
Partners SOCAR (58%)
BOTAŞ (30%)
BP (12%) | ||
The Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP; Turkish: Trans-Anadolu Doğalgaz Boru Hattı) is a natural gas pipeline from Azerbaijan through Georgia and Turkey to Europe. It will be a central part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which will connect the giant Shah Deniz gas field in Azerbaijan to Europe through the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP), TANAP and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
Contents
This project is of strategic importance for both Azerbaijan and Turkey. It will allow first Azerbaijani gas exports to Europe, beyond Turkey. It will also strengthen the role of Turkey as a regional energy hub.
Construction of the pipeline began formally in March 2015 and is expected to be completed in 2018.
History
The project was announced on 17 November 2011 at the Third Black Sea Energy and Economic Forum in Istanbul. On 26 December 2011, Turkey and Azerbaijan signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a consortium to build and operate the pipeline.
In spring 2012, the process of conducting the technical-economic feasibility study was launched. On 26 June 2012, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and then Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signed a binding intergovernmental agreement on the pipeline. On March 17, 2015, both Erdogan and Aliyev met with Giorgi Margvelashvili, President of Georgia, in the city of Kars in Eastern Turkey to formally lay the foundations for the pipeline and marking the work as started.
Description
The pipeline is expected to cost US$10-11 billion. The construction is planned to start in 2015 and to be completed by 2018.
The planned capacity of the pipeline would be 16 billion cubic metres (570 billion cubic feet) of natural gas per year at initial stage and would be increased later up to 23 billion cubic metres (810 billion cubic feet) by 2023, 31 billion cubic metres (1.1 trillion cubic feet) by 2026, and at the final stage 60 billion cubic metres (2.1 trillion cubic feet) to be able to transport additional gas supplies from Azerbaijan and, if the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline, from Turkmenistan. Its capacity would be increased by adding parallel loops and compressor stations according to the increase of available supplies. It is not decided yet if the pipeline will use 48-or-56-inch (1,200 or 1,400 mm) pipes.
Route
The pipeline will start from Sangachal terminal and in territory of Azerbaijan it will be the expansion of existing South Caucasus Pipeline (SCPx). From end point of SCPx which is in Erzurum it will be continued to Eskishehir where it will unload 6bcm of gas entitled to Turkish buyers. From Turkey-Greece border it will continue through Greece, Albania and will end in Italy. The exact route of the pipeline is not clear. However, it was announced that one branch from Turkey would go to Greece and the other to Bulgaria. It would be connected with Trans Adriatic Pipeline. The Turkish government said in March 2015 that a branch from Greece through Macedonia and Serbia to Hungary was also under consideration.
Shareholders
The TANAP will be operated by SOCAR, which currently holds 58% stake in the project. Turkey's pipeline operator BOTAŞ own 30%, while BP acquired 12% in the project on March 13, 2015 . The TANAP project company will be headquartered in the Netherlands.
Initially, Azerbaijan had held an 80% stake, with Turkey owning the remainder. The Turkish stake was divided between the Turkish upstream company TPAO (15%) and the Turkish pipeline operator BOTAŞ (5%). The international companies from the Shah Deniz consortium (BP, Statoil and Total) had an option to take up to 29% in TANAP. However, only BP exercised this option in December 2013. The Turkish government decided then that only BOTAŞ will hold a stake (20%) in TANAP. The Turkish pipeline operator acquired an additional 10% in May 2014. SOCAR's initial plan was to retain 51% and operatorship of the project. Several private Turkish companies had been interested in the remaining 7%, but this did not materialize.
Contractors
Team
CEO of TANAP is Dr. Saltuk Düzyol, the former general manager of BOTAŞ