Trans Anatolian Takes a Step Forwards

Turkey and Azerbaijan will sign a memorandum of understanding establishing a consortium that will build a pipeline to ship natural gas from the Shah Deniz field to Europe via Anatolia.

The pipeline project, designed to carry Azeri gas through Turkey, is seen having an annual capacity of 16-17 billion cubic metres (bcm) and costing around $5-6 billion, according to Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR.

SOCAR, Turkey’s state-owned pipeline operator Botas Boru Hatlari Ile Petrol Tasima AS and oil firm Turkiye Petrolleri AO will be the founding members of the organization.

The Trans-Anatolia pipeline is planned to be completed by 2017, when the second phase of Shah Deniz starts producing gas.

Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz said the the project will allow for the success of other proposed pipeline projects.

"The application of such projects as Nabucco, ITGI and TAP seemed doubtful,"Yildiz commented. "However after a new gas pipeline is built between Turkey and Azerbaijan, the issue of the implementation of these projects will have more emphasis."