‘Trans-Anatolia Gas Pipeline is game-changing project’

New Azerbaijani-Turkish Trans-Anatolia Gas Pipeline (TANAP) is a game-changing project, which would connect the Caspian basin directly with Europe for the first time, Senior Fellow of Jamestown Foundation (Washington), Trend Expert Council Vladimir Socor believes.

"Timing, route, and parameters make Trans-Anatolia Gas Pipeline a game-changing project," Socor, said in his publication on the wider implications of this project, published on Jamestown Foundation's official website.

The construction of TANAP is required to export most part of 50 billion cubic meters of gas that Azerbaijan intends to produce in 2025. Baku and Ankara intend to construct new pipeline on the Turkish territory, which will stretch from the eastern border of Turkey to the country's western border.

The parties involved in the project intend to resolve all issues on this gas pipeline in 2012. They also plan to commence construction immediately in order to complete it by late 2017. The second stage of development of the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field will be launched by late 2017.

The pipeline cost will be set by SOCAR and may be close to $5 billion. The initial capacity of TANAP will amount to 16 billion cubic meters per year.

Socor said the pipeline effectively replaces the Nabucco project in Turkey, thanks to Azerbaijan's capacity to finance the trans-Anatolia project, for possible link-up with an abridged Nabucco in Europe.

Earlier Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said that TANAP can be connected to the Nabucco pipeline, which is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region and Middle East to Europe.
German RWE, which is one of six shareholders in Nabucco project, believes that while a plan to build TANAP would shorten Nabucco, lowering its investment costs, it raises questions about access and financing for the European project.

On Oct. 1, Nabucco with the other pipeline projects (TAP, ITGI) submitted their final proposals to the Azerbaijani side, which will review them in accordance with the previously announced criteria. The decision on the preferable transportation route is expected to be made till the first quarter of 2012.

Socor believes that given Nabucco's cost overruns and the European financial crisis, however, the smaller and cheaper ITGI and TAP may look more doable to Azerbaijan and other Shah Deniz gas producers.

"In that case, Azerbaijani gas would go from the trans-Anatolia pipeline toward Greece, the Adriatic coast and Italy, instead of the Nabucco partners, which need both the volumes and the diversification," Socor said.


/Trend/