BP company, operator of the Shah Deniz project, and the consortium for construction of the Trans-Anadolu pipeline (TANAP) signed the agreement in Ankara, Turkey, on February 12, 2015, according to which BP will join TANAP shareholders.
As soon as the formal procedures are completed, BP will 12% share in the future gas pipeline. Its partners include State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) with 58% share and Turkish BOTAS with 30%.
A source from SOCAR told Caspian Barrel that BP is not an equal member of TANAP A.S., which will be in charge of construction and management of TANAP. “This could be considered the first step made by BP and the operator and then we will have to solve some formal technical issues with the Turkish authorities and afterwards the British company will sign a commercial agreement on joining the project,“ a source from SOCAR said.
TANAP envisages transportation of gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field from the Georgian-Turkish border to the western borders of Turkey.
The ceremony of laying the TANAP foundation will take place tomorrow in Kars city on the east of Turkey in presence of Turkish and Azerbaijani President.
It is planned to start the gas pipeline construction in April 2015. It must be launched by 2018, when the first volume of gas will be delivered to Turkey from the Shah Deniz-2 field. By 2020 fuel will be delivered to the territory of Greece.
The initial carrying capacity of the pipeline is expected to be 16 billion cub.m. of gas a year. About 6 billion cub.m. of gas will be exported to Turkey and the remaining 10 billion cub.m. to Europe.
The project is estimated at $11.8 billion.
