Turkish president approves TANAP construction

Turkish President Abdullah Gul has ratified the intergovernmental agreement on construction of the Trans-Anatolia Gas Pipeline (TANAP), signed on June 26, Trend reports.

Azerbaijan and Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding on construction of a consortium in December 2011. The consortium will build a pipeline to transport gas from Shah Deniz to Europe through Turkey. BOTAS owns 20% in TANAP, SOCAR owns 80%.

The pipeline will have a capacity of 16 billion cubic meters annually. 6 billion cubic meters will be provided for Turkey, the rest for Europe.

Azerbaijani gas exported to Turkey from Shah Deniz may be cheaper than Russian gas by 12%. Russia sells its gas to Turkey at a price of $460 per 1000 cubic meters, Azerbaijan at $320. The price for gas running through TANAP will be slightly higher.

TANAP will be connected to Nabucco West, Turkish Minister for Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz said. Azerbaijani gas may also be exported to Austria through Bulgaria.

The consortium developing Shah Deniz chose Nabucco West as the route for gas transport to South-Eastern and Central Europe.

Nabucco Gas Pipeline International proposed the Nabucco-West concept, a shorter version of the pipeline from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austria’s Baumgarten. The pipeline will have a capacity of 20 billion cubic meters. Nabucco West will be 1300 km long. 412 km will run through Bulgaria, 469 through Romania, 384 through Hungary, 47 through Austria.

The final decision will be made in 2013.