Turkmenistan ‘to export gas to Europe once Tanap ready’

Istanbul, 18 February (Argus) — Turkmenistan will start exporting natural gas to Europe once the Tanap pipeline is up and running, according to a Turkish energy ministry official. The Tanap line aims to carry gas from Azerbaijan through Turkey and thence to Europe.

Once the line is operating, “the Turkmen government will be encouraged to use it to send its gas to Europe”, Reha Aykul Muratoglu, the head of the pipelines department at Turkey's energy ministry, said at the Turkey Oil and Gas 2014 summit organised by IRN in Istanbul today.

Final investment decisions were taken for the Tanap project late last year and construction will start early next year, Muratoglu said. Turkish pipeline company Botas will take a 30pc stake in the project. The first gas to Turkey will be delivered at the end of 2018, and shipments to Europe will take place early in 2019.

The pipeline will have a capacity of 31bn m³/yr and will carry 16bn m³/yr initially. Turkey will take 6bn m³/yr of that, with the rest moving to Europe on the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline through Greece and Albania to Italy.

The EU last year reached a framework agreement with Turkmenistan on possible gas sales to Europe. Such a project is complicated by territorial disputes over the Caspian Sea, which must be crossed with a pipeline if Turkmen gas is to be fed into Tanap.

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