Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu proposed to connect the Russia-developed Turkish Stream pipeline to the TANAP. Cavusoglu said Ankara will buy only 16 billion cubic meters of Russian gas per year via the Turkish Stream. The remaining volume of Russian gas can be exported through Turkey via TANAP by connecting it to the Turkish Stream, he added.
Firstly, the reaction of TANAP project participants to the proposal is unknown, said Baranov adding that the participants have their own plans to develop and use the pipeline, and none of them said that these plans have changed.
Earlier, TANAP Consortium told Trend that they are familiar with Turkish foreign minister’s statement, but don’t have precise information.
Secondly, the Russian expert noted that TANAP has to compete with Russian gas supplies to a certain extent, and Cavusoglu’s proposal, if it is accepted, will change many things.
Finally, all parties have to take into consideration Europe’s opinion in this issue, because a number of states are the final recipients of gas, said Baranov.
He went on to add that the political component and the state of the global economy must also be taken into consideration in the issue of connection of the Turkish Stream and TANAP pipelines.
TANAP project, worth $9.2 billion, envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field to the western borders of Turkey. The gas will be delivered to Turkey in 2018, and after completion of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline’s construction, the gas will be delivered to Europe in early 2020. TANAP shareholders are Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR (58 percent), BOTAS (30 percent) and BP (12 percent).
Russia abandoned the South Stream project in favor of Turkish Stream in December 2014, which involves the construction of the gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey through the Black Sea.
However, the project was frozen after the relations between Moscow and Ankara deteriorated in November 2015.
During the meeting on Aug. 9, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to resume the implementation of the Turkish Stream project.
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