Turkish Stream project will not negatively affect the TANAP and Shah Deniz projects with Azerbaijan
Turkish Stream project will not negatively affect the TANAP and Shah Deniz projects with Azerbaijan, head of Atlantic Council Global Energy Center said on Friday.
In December 2014, Russia’s Vladimir Putin announced the scrapping of the South Stream pipeline project due to a disagreement between Moscow and the European Union countries.
Putin proposed a new route to deliver the gas to Europe through Turkey which was dubbed the “Turkish Stream”. The project is expected to have 63 billion cubic meters of which 15 billion cubic meter is planned to be provided to Turkey while the rest will be delivered to Europe from Greece border.
Turkey also has ongoing natural gas projects with Aerbaijan in TANAP as part of the Southern Gas Corridor and Shah Deniz. The groundbreaking ceremony of TANAP was held in March in Kars, an eastern province of Turkey, by the presidents of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
“I strongly believe that it will have no effect on TANAP and Shah Deniz project. Turkey has very strong relations with Azerbaijan and I don’t think that Turkey will let Turkish Stream to interfere with TANAP or any gas coming form Azerbaijan,” Richard Morningstar, founding director of Atlantic Council Global Energy Center told the Anadolu Agency.
He said that there is a number of question marks about the Turkish Stream including the delivery of natural gas to Europe, Gazprom’s ongoing case opened by the European Commission and system of the pipelines.
Morningstar, however, said that he does not believe that Turkish Stream would give any harm to Turkey’s other projects in TANAP and Shah Deniz.
“I would be extremely surprised if Turkey let Turkish stream hurt the prospects of Azerbaijani gas going to Europe and the TANAP pipeline. Don’t forget that there are a lot of companies involved in TANAP and Shah Deniz and again very strong relationship between Turkey and Azerbaijan. TANAP and Turkish Stream can possibly complete each other.” he emphasized.
He forewarned that Turkey should not be too dependent on any single source but diversity its routes and source of supplies.
“That’s why I believe ultimately that even if Turkish Stream deal is completed, Turkey will still want gas from Azerbaijan and also maybe from other sources. It will be a big mistake for Turkey to become overly dependent on one country and more dependent on Russia,” Morningstar concluded.
Reporting By Gulbin Yildirim, Writing By Nuran Erkul
Anadolu Agency
