BP to join TANAP before year end

BP is expected to finish all legal procedures to become a stakeholder before the end of the year in the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline project (TANAP).

The TANAP project promises to reduce Europe's reliance on Russian gas. It will carry 16 billion m³/yr of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz II field in the Caspian Sea, one of the world's largest gas fields, which is being developed by a BP-led consortium.

Vagif Aliyev, SOCAR's Investment Department Chief, told reporters that after signing all documents BP, which decided to join TANAP last year, would hold a 12% stake in the project. SOCAR will hold 58% and Turkish pipeline firm Botas 30%.

The pipeline will run from the Turkish-Georgian border to Turkey's frontier with Bulgaria and Greece. Its construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2018 in order to start deliveries of gas from Shah Deniz II to Europe in 2019.

The preliminary cost of the pipeline has been estimated at US$ 10 - 11 billion.

Contracts for the delivery of pipe for the route were signed recently and contracts on construction will be signed soon. The announcement of the winners of the tender for construction of the compressor stations is also pending, while in Turkey work is underway to purchase land for the pipeline.

Edited from various sources by Elizabeth Corner

Sources: Reuters, Interfax Energy

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