Pre-qualification tender for TANAP announced

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

The TANAP project intends to enable transportation of the gas of the Shah Deniz 2 field and other fields in Azerbaijan through Turkey to Europe.

The tender notices for the pre-qualification stage of the onshore pipeline and block valve and pigging stations construction of the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) were announced this week. The invitations to bid will be made in the first quarter of 2014 and contracts are expected to be awarded in the third quarter of 2014, according to the notice. The construction period is expected to start at the end of 2014.

The TANAP, a natural gas pipeline system running from the Georgia-Turkey border to the Turkey-Greece border, will mainly consist of steel pipe with a diameter of 56” (alternatively 48”), including a short offshore section and interconnecting lines that may have reduced diameters, block valve stations, pigging stations, metering stations, pressure reduction stations, compressor stations and related SCADA and telecommunication facilities, according to the notice.

The onshore pipeline can be split into different construction contracts of as yet unspecified lengths, the notice said.

Interest letters to be presented until Aug 15

Entities interested in being pre-qualified are requested to submit a scanned copy of expression of interest letter to the authorities on Aug. 15, 2013. The pre-qualification package will be distributed to all interested applicants on Aug. 16, 2013, and the receipt of applications is scheduled for Sept. 27.

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 on December 2011 in the Turkish capital Ankara. SOCAR owned 80 percent and Turkey 20 percent share in the TANAP project at the beginning, but SOCAR sold later 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 around $40 billion with the accompanying pipelines, TANAP and Trans-Adriatic Gas Pipeline (TAP).

The operators of the Shah Deniz 2 field – BP, Statoil, Azeri state energy firm SOCAR, Total, and others – officially announced June 28 in Baku that they had chosen the Trans-Adriatic-Pipeline (TAP) to carry Azeri gas to Europe across Greece, Albania and Turkey.

The TANAP is planned to be completed in 2018 and will be connected to the TAP. 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.