Ukrainian PM: Ukraine Ready to Participate in TANAP

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said that his country is ready and open to participate in the Trans Anatolian pipeline project, in a financial and technical capacity.

At a meeting with Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan today, the prime minister said that Ukraine wished to "both make a financial contribution and provide pipes and compressor stations."

Currently, the Trans Anatolian pipeline is under construction by just two countries, Azerbaijan and Turkey. However, operator SOCAR, which holds an 80 per cent stake in the pipeline, has said that it will divest some of this share to other parties in the future.

The Trans Anatolian pipeline is just one of a number of projects Ukraine has expressed an interest in in recent times in a bid to move its supply away from Russian major Gazprom.

Last month, Prime Minister Azarov said that the country was also interested in participating in the Trans-Caspian pipeline. In a meeting with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, he said that Ukraine was ready to fund up to ten per cent of the cost of that pipeline, at about €790 million.

Ukraine has also said that it is planning to reverse the flow of gas to its pipelines in addition to joining the other projects, which would mean it could import gas from other sources than Russia.