TANAP to become operational on June 30

BP Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey Gary Jones said that gas delivery from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz gas condensate field to Turkey via the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) will start on June 30, 2018.

"We have a contract for the additional export of 2 billion cubic meters of the produced gas this year. The export volumes will increase from year to year. The gas delivery from the new Shah Deniz field will start June 30 this year," he explained.

Speaking at the press conference, he noted that it is expected that 2 bcm of gas will be transported from the Shah Deniz 2 this year.

Political scientist Rovshan Ibragimov, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that first deliveries of Azerbaijani gas to Turkey via TANAP will be a symbol of a new era of Azerbaijan's economy. "It will mean that the Southern Gas Corridor project, of which TANAP is a part, has been implemented and put into operation. The entry of Azerbaijani gas into the Turkish market via this route will happen earlier than expected. Therefore, one should not expect big economic benefits from the project at the first stage, since this is only the initial stage of exports, but, on the other hand, gas is already being produced from Shah Deniz-2," he said.

Rovshan Ibragimov recalled that the first stage of gas supplies through the Southern Gas Corridor via TANAP and TAP has all necessary contracts. "The production of natural gas on an industrial scale requires the obligatory distribution of its supplies at the first stage, and all agreements with the countries have already been signed for Shah Deniz 2. After Turkey, its final markets are Bulgaria, Greece and Italy, 10 billion cubic meters per year of European supplies are distributed, of which 7 billion cubic meters are for the Italian market, providing about 10% of the Italians' need for gas. In the long run we can say that new markets may emerge, interest is shown by former Yugoslavia, Albania, through which the TAP pipeline passes, and there is an agreement that SOCAR will deal with the country's gasification," the expert said.

"There is a similar agreement with Bulgaria, where only 3% of the territories have access to the gas pipelines, due to which Sofia is interested in further gasification and increasing gas consumption. For SOCAR, the construction of pipelines in Bulgaria is a big market. The further diversification of the Southern Gas Corridor's client base will take place along the perimeter of the current project participants, including Montenegro, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia. Depending on how the Shah Deniz-3 develops, Azerbaijani gas can enter the markets of Western Europe through Italy's internal pipeline infrastructure in 10-20 years. As a result, Italy, Bulgaria and Greece will consume Azerbaijani gas in the short term, Albania and the countries of former Yugoslavia - in the medium-term," Rovshan Ibragimov concluded.