TANAP’s capacity to be doubled: Minister

ISTANBUL

The capacity of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) will be doubled, Energy Minister Fatih Dönmez has announced.

“Currently TANAP transports 16 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually. Türkiye receives 6 billion cubic meters while 10 billion cubic meters of gas goes to Europe. Hopefully, the capacity will increase to 32 billion cubic meters in a short period of time,” Dönmez said, speaking after the second Azerbaijan-Türkiye Energy Forum in Istanbul on Oct. 6.

Türkiye will definitely benefit from the increased capacity, the minister added.

The 1,850-kilometer-long pipeline carries the natural gas extracted in Azerbaijan first to Türkiye and then to Europe.

Türkiye and Azerbaijan make a great contribution to Europe’s energy supply security with large infrastructure projects such as TANAP, Dönmez said.

Despite the global crisis, the two countries fulfill their responsibilities as regards to energy supply security, he added.

Dönmez also said that an intergovernmental agreement is planned to be signed soon to strengthen the cooperation between the two countries in the field of energy.

“An important step will be taken when a company jointly established by Botaş and Socar becomes operational,” he added.

For his part, Azerbaijan’s Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov said that TANAP provided 4.2 billion cubic meters of a total of 6.1 billion cubic meters of gas that Türkiye received in the first nine months of 2022.

“By the end of 2023, our natural gas exports to Türkiye will reach 9.3 billion cubic meters,” the Azeri minister added.

Gas imports declined

Meanwhile, data from the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) showed that Türkiye imported 15.7 percent less natural gas in July compared with the same month of last year.

The country’s imports declined from 4.05 billion cubic meters in July 2021 to 3.41 billion cubic meters, the EPDK said in its monthly report on the natural gas industry.

Natural gas deliveries to Türkiye via pipelines dropped 12.95 percent on an annual basis to 3.02 billion cubic meters, while liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports fell almost 33 percent to 383 million cubic meters.

Pipelines accounted for 89 percent of all imported gas, up from 86 percent a year earlier.

Russia was the largest supplier of natural gas. Imports from Russia fell by 37 percent year-on-year in July to 1.45 billion cubic meters, or 42.4 percent of all imports.

Iran ranked second at 870 million cubic meters, up from 633 million cubic meters in July 2021. Türkiye boosted natural gas imports from Azerbaijan by 31.5 percent to 710 million cubic meters, while imports from Algeria fell 33 percent from July last year to 383 million cubic meters.

The country’s total gas consumption was 2.8 billion cubic meters in August, down from 3.8 billion cubic meters a year ago.

In the first seven months of 2022, Türkiye imported 34.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas, while domestic consumption declined by 2.72 percent to 34.68 billion cubic meters.