The ceremony of laying the Southern Gas Corridor will be held Sept. 20, 2014, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
He made the remarks in Baku at a joint statement ceremony with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Sept 3.
Erdogan said the Southern Gas Corridor is a very important project not only for Azerbaijan and Turkey, but also for the entire region.
He added that the project’s realization is an indication of Azerbaijan’s power.
Southern Gas Corridor is a project that will allow Europe to diversify its hydrocarbon supply sources and increase energy security, while Azerbaijan obtains a new market in Europe.
The final investment decision on the Stage 2 of the Azerbaijani ‘Shah Deniz’ offshore gas and condensate field’s development was made Dec. 17, 2013.
Some 10 billion cubic meters of gas from the field will be supplied to the European market.
The gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of the field’s development will be exported to Turkey and European markets by means of expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and construction of the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
Azerbaijan, which has total gas reserves of about three trillion cubic meters, will launch fuel deliveries to Europe with the help of the planned Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.
TAP’s initial capacity will be 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year, with a possibility of expanding up to 20 billion.
Prior to TAP, which is to take its beginning from the border of Turkey and Greece, the Azerbaijani gas will be delivered to Turkey via the TANAP.
And before the TANAP, the gas will be delivered via the existing 700-kilometer long South Caucasus Pipeline, the capacity of which will be expanded.
