The signing ceremony was attended by Taner Y±ld±z, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey; R̦vnag Abdullayev, President of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR); Gordon Birrell, BP‘s Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey; Mehmet Konuk, General Manager of BOTAS; Vagif Aliyev, Member of the Board of Directors of TANAP; Saltuk Duzyol, General Manager of TANAP; and Afgan ¡sayev, General Director of the Southern Gas Corridor Closed Joint Stock Company. Consequently, BP has officially become a partner in the TANAP.
TANAP’s shareholding percentages, after the process of acquisition of shares is completed, will be: Southern Gas Corridor Closed Joint Stock Company (SGC) holding 58 per cent, BOTAS holding 30 per cent, and BP holding 12 per cent.
As a significant project for providing supply diversification and ensuring the energy supply security of Turkey and European Union countries TANAP will carry natural gas produced from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz II field in the Caspian Sea to Turkey and then to Europe.
Gas flow to Turkey is planned to launch in 2018, with an initial capacity of 16 Bcm/a, which will be gradually increased to 24 Bcm and then 31 Bcm.
The 1,850 km long TANAP line will be connected to the Trans Adriatic Natural Gas Pipeline (TAP) and will deliver natural gas from the South Caucasus Pipeline to Europe through Greece, Albania and Italy as of early 2020.
TANAP has been designed to run from the Turkish village of TÌ_rkg̦zÌ_ in the Posof district of Ardahan to the district of Edirne along the Turkish-Greek border, and from this point, it will be linked to the TAP.