BP to join TANAP in near future

By Aynur Jafarova

British BP, which operates a number of major oil and gas projects on behalf of its co-ventures in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, will join the Trans-Anatolian (TANAP) gas pipeline project in the near future.

The news was announced by BP's Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey (AGT) Gordon Birrell on November 28.

He told the journalists that the company’s share in the TANAP project will reach 12 percent following the transaction.

Birrell voiced hope that this process will complete by late 2014.

TANAP, developed by SOCAR in collaboration with Turkish Botas and the energy company TPAO, will deliver Shah Deniz gas to the Turkish-Greek border from eastern Turkey.

The initial capacity of the pipeline will be 16 billion cubic meters of gas a year. TANAP will link up with Trans-Adriatic (TAP) pipeline on the Turkish-Greek border. About six billion cubic meters of gas will be delivered to Turkey and the rest to Europe. The costs of the TANAP project are estimated at $10 billion to $11 billion.