Costs of TANAP project may drop even further

By  Trend

The cost of the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP) may drop even further, the head of TANAP consortium Saltuk Duzyol said in an exclusive interview with Trend.

"We have spent less than $7 billion on the project. When we made the final investment decision, the initial estimated cost was $11.7 billion. Thus, we managed to save about $4.8 billion. And there is an opportunity for further reducing the cost of the project," he said.

Duzyol noted that this is a successful project that was completed within the budget and on time.

He further added that Turkey has been implementing such projects for a long time in close cooperation with Azerbaijan.

"It began with the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline project and continued with the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline project. Turkey has been importing Azerbaijani gas since 2007 under a contract that was signed in 2001 for the supply of 6.6 billion cubic meters. After the implementation of TANAP, Turkey will import 12.6 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas per year," the head of the consortium said.

Duzyol noted that the share of the Azerbaijani gas in the total gas consumption of Turkey has increased in recent years.

"Thanks to the TANAP project, Turkey will make a great contribution to ensuring security and diversification of supplies in the region. TANAP will definitely provide some flexibility in the supply to the Turkish network, because with the help of the TANAP system, BOTAS will be able to transport huge volumes of Azerbaijani gas directly to the consumption centers located west of Eskisehir, which is Turkey’s receiving point. Currently, 66 percent of total consumption falls on the west of Eskisehir in Turkey, which means flexibility from an operational point of view. In addition, Turkey will receive significant tax revenues from the TANAP project," he said.

The head of the consortium noted that at the investment stage, TANAP provided many jobs for the Turkish people.

"At the peak level, more than 13,000 people were involved in the project. Turkey has ambitions to become a gas corridor and an energy hub in the region, and TANAP will best contribute to the achievement of this ultimate goal," he added.

The TANAP pipeline runs from the Georgian-Turkish border to the country’s western border with Greece. TANAP, together with the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), is part of the Southern Gas Corridor project, which provides the transportation of gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field to Europe.

The initial capacity of the TANAP pipeline is expected to be 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year. About 6 billion cubic meters will be supplied to Turkey, while the rest will be supplied to Europe. After the completion of the construction of TAP, gas flow to Europe will being by early 2020.