Ground-breaking ceremony for TANAP pipeline to take place in early 2015

The physical work (earthwork) for constructing the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) will start on April 1, 2015, the head of Azerbaijan's State Oil Company (SOCAR), Rovnag Abdullayev told reporters on Sept.9.

The ground-breaking ceremony for the new gas pipeline is expected to be held in early 2015, according to Abdullayev.

Abdullayev went on to add that no changes are expected in the structure of the shareholders for the present.

The TANAP project envisages transporting gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field through Turkey up to the country's border with Europe.

The pipeline's initial capacity is expected to be 16 billion cubic meters per year. About six billion cubic meters of gas will be delivered to Turkey and the rest to Europe. The pipeline's capacity can be further expanded to 31 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

It is planned to commission the TANAP pipeline in 2018. The project's cost is estimated at $10 billion to $11 billion.

SOCAR and Turkey's state-owned Botas Pipeline Company signed a contract for the sale of SOCAR's 10 percent share in the TANAP project in June 2014.

After completing the deals with BP and Botas, SOCAR's share in the TANAP project will be equal to 58 percent. And the shares of BP and Botas will be 12 percent and 30 percent, respectively.

On December 17, 2013, a final investment decision was made on the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz offshore gas and condensate field's development. The gas produced at this field will first go to the European market.

Partners operating for Shah Deniz field's development, which has reserves of 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas, include SOCAR with a share of 16.7 percent, British BP (28.8 percent), Norwegian Statoil (15.5 percent), Iranian NICO (10 percent), French Total (10 percent), Russian Lukoil (10 percent) and Turkish TPAO (nine percent). (Trend.az)