Over 15,000 people to work to build TANAP

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

REUTERS photo

Some 30-35 working sites will be created to undertake preparation and construction for the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline project, shown by the environmental impact analysis documents for the project.

The document also shows that approximately 500 people will be employed in each site, in addition to 50 people in each of the eight compressor stations.

The sites will be established on the most logistically suitable areas spanning some 2,000-kilometer-long route.

TANAP is planned to be completed in 2018 and will be connected to the Trans-Adriatic pipeline (TAP). The first 16 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas is expected in the initial stage in 2019, gradually hitting 23 bcm in 2020 and 31 bcm in 2026. During the first period, 10 bcm of Azeri gas will be sold to Europe and 6 bcm to Turkey.

The TANAP project intends to enable the transportation of the gas of the Shah Deniz 2 field and other fields of Azerbaijan (and other possible neighboring countries) through Turkey to Europe. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the governments of Turkey and Azerbaijan in December 2011 in the Turkish capital Ankara. SOCAR owned 80 percent share and Turkey 20 percent in the TANAP project in the beginning, but SOCAR later sold 29 percent of its share to BP, Statoil and Total, all of which have shares in the Shah Deniz 2 Consortium. The Shah Deniz field is expected to cost approximately $40 billion with the accompanying pipelines, TANAP and TAP.