TANAP to bring gas to Bulgarian border: Bağış

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

The TANAP pipeline project smoothes the way for Nabucco, EU Minister Bağış says. REUTERS photo

A recent agreement between Ankara and Baku on the Trans-Anatolian natural gas pipeline project (TANAP) will not hamper the possibility of construction the Nabucco pipeline, according to two Turkish ministers.

“TANAP has become a project that regenerates Nabucco, instead of destroying it. Nabucco will be Nabucco if it’s completed. But if the 3,300 kilometer-long line cannot not be competed, then maybe we should prioritize the 1,300-kilometer-long line [of TANAP]. TANAP will be the [main] artery of the vein network,” Energy Minister Taner Yıldız told reporters yesterday.

Blaming European countries for the delay in the Nabucco project, EU Minister Egemen Bağış said the TANAP had smoothed the way for Nabucco.

“Those who want to take natural gas through Turkey will be able to build their own pipelines starting from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to meet their demands,” Bağış said.

Turkey and Azerbaijan signed a deal to build the trans-Anatolian pipeline to carry 10 billion cubic meters of Azeri gas to European markets per year, plus 6.0 bcm for itself. After the deal, some critics claimed that the Nabucco project was over, as it was expected to carry Caspian gas to Europe.

Yıldız, however, said the Nabucco project would probably survive as “Nabucco West,” a smaller, shorter pipeline, likely to begin at the Bulgarian-Turkish border rather than in Azerbaijan.

“In my opinion, this project will survive as Nabucco West. [Natural gas] will be carried through TANAP plus Nabucco West to Austria,” Yıldız said.