Berat Albayrak: 55% work of TANAP will be completed by year-end

Baku. 8 November. REPORT.AZ/ 55% of construction work of Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) project, to transport Azerbaijani gas to Turkey and Europe will be completed by year-end.

Report informs citing the Turkish media, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Berat Albayrak said at the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) presentation of the ministry's budget for 2017.

The minister said that first TANAP gas will be transported to Turkey in 2018: "In 2020, European gas demand will be supplied."

Notably, TANAP is a pipeline, which will transport the gas, produced within development of second phase of Azerbaijan's 'Shahdeniz' field in the Caspian Sea, to Turkey and then to Europe. TANAP, which is a branch of the Southern Gas Corridor project is being constructed in the territory of Turkey. The pipeline will connect with Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), designed to transport Azerbaijani gas to Europe through Turkey-Greece border.

On March 17, 2015, groundbreaking ceremony of the TANAP has been held in Kars, Turkey with participation of Azerbaijani, Turkish and Georgian presidents. Initial capacity of the pipeline, which is planned to be put into operation in 2018, will be 16 billion cubic meters per year. About 6 billion cubic meters of this gas will be transported to Turkey, the remaining to Europe. The TANAP pipeline will have two starting point in Eskisehir, Turkey and in Thrace. The sale of gas in Turkey will be carried out by BOTAS company. The total length of the pipeline is 1 850 km. 19 km section of the pipeline will pass through the Sea of Marmara.