TANAP marks 1 bln cubic meters gas milestone to Turkey

The Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP) transferred more than one billion cubic meters of natural gas to Turkey since its launch at the end of June 2018, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev announced Wednesday.

In his speech during the 5th Ministerial Meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) Advisory Council in Azerbaijan's capital Baku, Aliyev hailed the Southern Gas Corridor as a project for energy security to feed Turkey and Europe with Caspian gas resources from the Shah Deniz-2 field in Azerbaijan.

The 3,500-kilometer-long project is one of the biggest in the world with an investment volume of around $40 billion.

Turkey's gas consumption is around 50 billion cubic meters out of which Azerbaijan provides around 12 percent of the country's needs, according to Turkey's energy ministry.

Gas transferred via TANAP represents around 2 percent of the country's consumption.

Aliyev said the last leg of the Southern Gas Corridor, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), is 85 percent completed. He also advised that the other three legs of the SGC, namely the development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz-2 oil field, South Caucasus Pipeline and TANAP have been constructed.

He noted that Azerbaijan has 2.3 trillion cubic meters of proved natural gas reserves, in which the European energy market could avail of as a new supply source.

TANAP, the biggest chain of the Corridor at a length of 1,850 kilometers, has a capacity of 16 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

Turkey will receive 6 billion cubic meters via TANAP while 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas will be sent to Europe via TAP.

TAP is expected to be ready to send first gas by 2020.