Press Releases

TANAP is ready to deliver natural gas to Europe

The Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), the major segment of the Southern Gas Corridor, is ready to supply Azerbaijani gas directly to Europe from July 1, 2019. After completion of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the last section of the SGC, the natural gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz 2 field will be delivered to Europe via TANAP and TAP, adding to the country’s income and making an important contribution to European energy security. TANAP is now the longest and widest natural gas pipeline in Turkey, the Middle East and Europe.

The Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline, one of the most important projects of long-term strategic energy cooperation between Turkey and Azerbaijan, is complete. The 1,850-km pipeline begins in the Turkish Posof district of Ardahan, runs through 20 provinces, 67 districts and 600 villages, and reaches Europe at the Greek border in the Ipsala district of Edirne, and it is now ready to deliver the first natural gas to Europe via Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) on the border of Turkey and Greece from July 1, 2019.

TANAP is the most important link of the Southern Gas Corridor, which is designed to transport natural gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz-2 field initially to Turkey and onwards to Europe. The section of pipeline from the Turkish border with Georgia until Eskişehir of Turkey was launched at an international opening ceremony on June 12, 2018, with the commercial gas flowing to Turkey from June 30, 2018. The final mechanical work in the pipeline between Eskişehir and the Turkish-Greek border was completed at the end of 2018 with the first test pumping held in April 2019. TANAP, which is now fully ready to transport natural gas to Europe, is the longest and widest natural gas pipeline in Turkey, Middle East and Europe. Next year, after the completion of the TAP, which connects with TANAP on the Turkish-Greek border, Azerbaijan will start delivering gas to European markets.

Rovnag Abdullayev, President of SOCAR, noted the following in his statement:

“The Southern Gas Corridor and TANAP are a reality now. We launched natural gas delivery via TANAP to Turkey in a ceremony attended by the distinguished presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey last year. Today, TANAP is ready to supply natural gas to Europe, and we are expecting the work on TAP pipeline to be completed. Azerbaijan has demonstrated to the world that we are more than capable of delivering complex transnational projects both at home and abroad in a timely fashion with high efficiency. During the implementation of TANAP, SOCAR and its partners saved about $5 billion, reducing the overall cost of the project by 40\%. This is a great achievement of the Azerbaijani and Turkish people, who, under the leadership of Mr. Ilham Aliyev and Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the distinguished presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey, have entrusted us with such a historic mission.”

SOCAR President also expressed gratitude to all who contributed to TANAP project. “We express our sincere gratitude to distinguished leaders of our states for always guiding and encouraging us, to Azerbaijani and Turkish public institutions and organizations, our partners in the project, all governmental bodies of Azerbaijan, represented by the Southern Gas Corridor CJSC for trusting and supporting us, to BOTAS and BP and their leaders as well as tens of thousands of TANAP employees for working enthusiastically and building this project step by step, to Mr. Saltuk Düzyol, distinguished TANAP CEO, for heading the project, to the contractors, suppliers and all of our partners for contributing to our success with their knowledge, skills and forces, to the civil society groups for supporting us throughout the project activity, to journalists for fulfilling their responsibilities in informing and enlightening society. We also express our sincere thanks to the dear people of Azerbaijan and Turkey for making us stronger and brightening our way”.

The legal framework for the TANAP project was established in 2012. The final investment decision on the project was adopted on December 17, 2013. The construction work began in 2015 following the foundation-laying ceremony in Kars attended by the presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey, Mr. Ilham Aliyev and Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan respectively. The first phase of TANAP from Turkish-Georgian border to Eskişehir was completed in June 2018. Its opening ceremony was held on June 12, 2018 and was attended by the leaders of the two countries. Transportation of the first commercial gas to Turkey began on June 30, 2018. The second phase of the project from Eskişehir to Turkish-Greek border was successfully completed by the end of June 2019. The project’s investment cost was estimated at $11.7 billion when the final investment decision was made. Thanks to the timely purchasing decisions and the maximization of management efficiency, this figure has been downgraded to less than $7 billion.

Around 1,000 social and environmental projects have been implemented in the course of TANAP construction, which helped achieve exemplary standards in pipeline quality, environment protection, and health and safety of workers.

TANAP stakeholders are Southern Gas Corridor CJSC, a joint venture of SOCAR (49\%) and the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan (51\%), BOTAS (30\%), BP (12\%) and SOCAR Turkey Energy A.S. (7\%).