Orkhan Sattarov, the head of the European bureau of Vestnik Kavkaza
“Up to now, the Southern Gas Corridor has existed formally only: as a red line on the map or statements made by Brussels officials at conferences on the EU's geopolitical initiatives. Due to the Southern Gas Corridor, Europe will be provided with energy independently from Gazprom and Russia,” the leading Austrian periodical Der Standard reports. “At the symbolic laying of the pipeline in Kars in the east of Turkey near the border with Armenia and Georgia, the EU came significantly closer to the idea of its corridor. In the presence of Maroš Šefčovič, the Commissioner for Energy, the presidents of Turkey and Azerbaijan declared the start of construction of the Trans-Anatolian pipeline (1859 km) which will run from the Turkish-Georgian border to the Turkish-Greek border,” the article says.
The periodical states that since 2019, initially 16 billion cubic meters of gas will run through the pipeline annually. Due to the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline which is being constructed, gas will run from Greece though Albania to Italy and Europe.
6 billion cubic meters of gas have already been booked by Turkey; 1 billion will go to Bulgaria. The other 9 billion will be directed from the Shakh Deniz Field of the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea to other countries of the EU.
“Experts stress that it is only 6% of the whole gas volume which is exported by Russia's Gazprom at the moment. However, the capacity of TANAP will steadily grow in the future to 31 billion cubic meters annually. Thus, there will be an opportunity to stretch another line of gas pipelines through the Balkans to Austria. It is a renovation of the Nabucco idea. It is becoming even more real, due to possible supplies from Turkmenistan and Iran,” the periodical predicts.
The author of the article, Markus Bernat, stresses that “TANAP is a milestone for the energy-dependent EU and Turkey. The permanent candidate to join the EU will get the desired status of an energy hub with the pipeline’s construction, as Turkish politicians and managers have always dreamed about.”
