TANAP pipeline project ahead of schedule: Turkish envoy

BAKU – Anadolu Agency

AA photo

The Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project, set to carry Azeri gas to Europe, is now ahead of schedule, Turkey’s ambassador to Azerbaijan said on Jan. 24. 

“The TANAP will be completed before the projected time and will start working,” Erkan Özoral told state-run Anadolu Agency.

The TANAP project aims to bring natural gas, produced from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz-2 gas field and other areas of the Caspian Sea, primarily to Turkey but also onto Europe via the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).    
    
The project is planned to be operational in 2018, with an initial capacity to carry 16 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Azeri gas through Georgia to Turkey. While 6 bcm will be for Turkey’s domestic consumption, the rest is destined for transfer to Greece, Albania, Italy and further into Europe.        

“These projects are steel belts that will ensure Azerbaijan’s integration with the world,” Özoral said, describing the TANAP as a “crucial” project and saying the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will complete “the missing link of the chain.”

“This is part of a railway project that will link the Chinese port of Shanghai to London,” said Özoral.      
 
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, set to go into service in mid-2017, is expected to link London with Beijing.

The railway will reduce shipping times to 15 days and shorten the distance from Europe to Asia by 6,800-7,500 kilometers.