Azerbaijani gas is coming; TANAP-Europe connection to open tomorrow

By Trend

Opening ceremony of Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP)-Europe connection will be held on Nov.30 in Ipsala of Turkey’s Edirne provice. In this area, near the Greek border, TANAP is connected to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), through which natural gas from Azerbaijan will be delivered to European countries.

This ceremony means completion of construction of TANAP, which is the longest segment of the Southern Gas Corridor project, which will for the first time transport Azerbaijani gas to Europe.

The Southern Gas Corridor project aims to increase and diversify European energy supply by bringing gas resources from the Caspian Sea to markets in Europe. The Southern Gas Corridor comprises the following four projects: 1) operation of Shah Deniz natural gas-condensate field (SD1 project) and its full-field development (SD2' project), 2) the operation of the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP project) and its expansion (SCPX project), 3) the construction of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP project) and 4) the construction of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP project).

The Projects have an estimated investment cost of approximately $40 billion. Upon completion, the SD2 project will add a further 16 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per annum to 10.9 bcma (maximum production capacity) already produced under SD1 project. Total length of the newly constructed SCPX, TANAP and TAP pipelines will be more than 3,200 kilometres.

TANAP begins from Georgian-Turkish border connecting to South Caucasus Pipeline system, goes through the territory of Turkey ending at Turkish-Greek border and further connecting to TAP system for delivery of natural gas to Europe. TANAP runs from the Turkish border with Georgia, beginning in the Turkish village of Turkgozu in the Posof district of Ardahan, going through 20 provinces including Kars, Erzurum, Erzincan, Bayburt, Gumushane, Giresun, Sivas, Yozgat, Kirsehir, Kirikkale, Ankara, Eskisehir, Bilecik, Kutahya, Bursa, Balikesir, Canakkale, Tekirda? and Edirne until it ends at the Greek border in the ?psala district of Edirne.

The pipeline’s length is 1804 kilometers: to Eskisehir: 1,345 km, to Turkey/Greece border: 459 km and to Dardanelles: 2x17.5 km

The diameter of the pipeline is as follows: to Eskisehir: 56 inch, to Turkey/Greece border – 48 inch and to Dardanelles – 2 x 36 inch.

The Memorandum of Understanding between Azerbaijan and Turkey was signed on December 24, 2011. The Intergovernmental Agreement on TANAP was signed between Azerbaijan and Turkey on June 26, 2012 and ratified by appropriate legislative bodies of two countries.

When making the final investment decision, the initial estimated cost of the project was $11.7 billion. However, it was possible to implement the project under the budget by saving $4.8 billion.

TANAP shareholders are as follows: Southern Gas Corridor CJSC - 51 percent, SOCAR Turkey Enerji - 7 percent, Botas - 30 percent, BP - 12 percent.

At the peak level, more than 13,000 people were involved in the project.

TANAP groundbreaking ceremony was held on March 17, 2015.

Opening ceremony of TANAP's Georgian-Turkish border-Eskishehir section (Phase 0) 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 since the start of commercial gas supplies on June 30, 2018 as of late October 2019. TANAP is expected to reach the full planned capacity of 6 billion cubic meters per year for Turkey after June 2020.

The initial capacity of TANAP 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.

TANAP has two compressor stations for the moment, which are sufficient for delivery of gas to Turkey and Europe in the amount of 16 billion cubic meters per annum. This is while TANAP’s design capacity is 31 billion cubic meters of gas per annum. When it comes to expansion, TANAP will have to add some additional compressor units to be able to reach a capacity of 24 billion cubic meters per annum. It will have to add two more compressor stations and to be able to reach 31 billion cubic meters it will need seven compressor stations in total.

TANAP will start commercial deliveries to Europe after the completion of TAP, which is expected to be ready for operations in October 2020.