By  Trend

SOCAR Turkey Enerji AS, a subsidiary of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR in Turkey, will complete acquisition of a 7 percent stake in the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) until late 2017, Zaur Gahramanov, the company’s CEO, told reporters in Baku on October 12.

He said certain delays are related to legal procedures.

“The deal is being agreed upon at the state level, and afterwards, the deal will be agreed upon at the shareholders’ level,” Gahramanov said. “It is necessary to notify the creditors of the project. So, the consent of more than 20 institutions is needed.”

Once the deal is completed, SOCAR Turkey Enerji AS will receive a 7 percent stake in the TANAP consortium.

TANAP project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz through the Georgian-Turkish border to the western borders of Turkey.

Initial capacity of TANAP is expected to reach 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year. Around six billion cubic meters of this gas will be delivered to Turkey and the remaining volume will be supplied to Europe.

Currently, the shareholders of TANAP are the Southern Gas Corridor CJSC (58 percent), Botas (30 percent) and BP (12 percent).