Turkey intends to additionally acquire a 10 percent share in the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline construction project (TANAP), designed to ensure the transportation of Azerbaijani gas through Turkey, SOCAR head Rovnag Abdullayev told media on April 12.
“This issue will be discussed next week at a meeting with the Turkish side [a meeting will be held at the level of Turkish Energy Minister].
“The preparation for making a final investment decision will complete as part of this large-scale project in late April,” he added.
“The work as part of the project is being carried out in accordance with the prescribed schedule,” he said. “If we manage to conduct the operations on time, the construction work will be launched by late 2014. They will enter into an active phase in 2015.”
As for the share distribution in the project, SOCAR head stressed that it is as follows at this stage: SOCAR – 58 percent , the Turkish side – 30 percent and BP – 12 percent.
The initial capacity of the pipeline is expected to hit 16 billion cubic meters per year. About six billion cubic meters will be supplied to Turkey, and the rest – to Europe. In the future, the pipeline can be expanded up to 31 billion cubic meters per year.
TANAP project cost is estimated at $12 billion.