Turkey Ratifies TANAP Agreement
Turkish President Abdullah Gül has ratified an intergovernmental agreement signed between Turkey and Azerbaijan in June this year for the construction of the Trans Anatolian pipeline (TANAP).
The agreement, signed on the 26th of June 2012, saw the two countries agree to finance the construction of the TANAP project, which will be used to transport gas from the Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan, through Turkey and then on to the rest of Europe.
The announcement was made through the government's national news service, the Resmi Gazete, today.
The ratification furthers the cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey on the pipeline, which first began with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two countries in December 2011. Through that agreement, a consortium of companies was formed to implement the construction of the pipeline. These companies are the Azeri state-owned SOCAR, which holds the majority stake of 80 per cent, and two Turkish state-owned fuel companies, Botas and TPAO, which each hold a 10 per cent stake.
SOCAR has said that it will portion out its 80 per cent stake in the consortium to other companies, while still retaining a majority stake for itself. However, the company says that it will only consider companies which already have an interest in Azerbaijan for the stakes.
When constructed, the pipeline will have the ability to supply 16 billion cubic metres of gas, with 6 billion cubic metres to be supplied to Turkey and the rest of Europe in its initial stages. As the pipeline development progresses, this will be increased to 23 billion cubic metres by 2020, ending up at 31 billion cubic metres by 2026.