Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, EU discuss Caspian gas shipments to Europe

Energy officials of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Turkey and European Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger are having a meeting in Turkmenistan, Trend reports.

Turkish Minister for Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz said that the Trans-Anatolia Gas Pipeline (TANAP) needs Turkmen gas. The gas may be transported to Europe through Azerbaijan by constructing the pipeline under the Caspian Sea.

Azerbaijan and Turkey signed an intergovernmental deal on realization of TANAP on June 26. They also signed a memorandum in December 2011 to form a consortium to build a pipeline for transporting gas from Shah Deniz to Europe through Turkey. 20% of TANAP shares belong to BOTAS (Turkey) and 80% to SOCAR (Azerbaijan). The gas pipeline will have a capacity of 16 billion cubic meters annually. 6 billion cubic meters will be transported to Turkey, the rest to EU consumers.