Turkey, Azerbaijan launch TANAP

The presidents of Turkey and Azerbaijan inaugurated the Trans-Anatolian pipeline (TANAP) on Tuesday in a ceremony attended by several regional heads of state in Eskisehir, Turkey.

The 1,850-kilometre pipeline will carry 16 bcm (565 bcf) of gas per year from Azerbaijan to Turkey, and on to the Turkish-Greek border, where it will connect to the Trans-Adriatic pipeline (TAP) upon commissioning of the latter in 2020.

The TAP will carry 10 bcm of gas per year to Europe.

“TANAP is about energy security, for Turkey, for Europe, for Ukraine. It’s about the diversification of gas supply away from Russia,” said Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko, also attending the ceremony. “We will be more than happy to receive gas through TANAP.”

The news came weeks after Azerbaijan launched the extension of the South Caucasus pipeline – the first leg of the Southern Gas Corridor – which feeds TANAP.

Although Ukraine is not on the route of the Southern Gas Corridor, the country is eager to reduce its dependence to Russian gas, and deliveries of Azeri gas through Bulgaria could happen in the future.