Page 83 - TURKRptDec19

9.0​ Industry & Sectors 9.1 ​Sector news
9.1.1​ Oil & gas sector news
Turkey and Azerbaijan formally marked the completion of the $6.5bn Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) on December 1​. TANAP makes up the longest stretch of the $40bn Southern Gas Corridor (SCG), a series of pipelines that will carry gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz II field to southern Italy, thus helping the European Union reduce its dependence on Russian gas. However, to meet that objective work must be completed on the delayed Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), running across Greece and Albania and under the Adriatic Sea.
TANAP has the capacity to carry up to 16bn cubic metres (bcm) of Azerbaijani gas a year. Around 10 bcm of that is to go to Europe, while 6 bcm will be allocated for the Turkish market.
A TANAP inauguration ceremony was held in the Turkish town of Ipsala on the Greek border. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev attended.
“The real responsibility from now on lies with our neighbours on the other side of the border. The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline needs to be completed as soon as possible to start the transfer of gas to Europe,” said Erdogan, adding that it was expected to be finished in 2020.
TANAP’s shareholders are Azerbaijani state energy company Socar (51%), Turkish pipeline operator BOTAS (30%), BP (12%) and Socar Turkey (7%).
Russia’s TurkStream gas pipeline to Turkey will come online on January 8​. Putin will open the pipeline with Erdogan in a ceremony in Turkey.
The first part of that pipeline is designed to supply Turkish domestic customers. It is expected that the second part will cross Bulgaria and Serbia and Hungary.
TurkStream runs from Russia for 930km along the bed of the Black Sea, terminating in Turkey’s western Thrace region. Its first string will supply up to 15.75bn cubic metres of gas per year to Turkish consumers, while its second will run through Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary, delivering an equal volume of gas to customers in Europe.
Russia’s state-owned gas supplier Gazprom broke ground on the project in May 2017, after hiring Swiss-based Allseas to lay the pipe, and work on both strings’ offshore sections was completed in November last year. It began filling the pipeline with gas in late October.
TurkStream was initially expected to start operations before the end of this year. Its launch will enable Russia to slash gas supplies it sends to Turkey and other European countries via Ukraine. This will strengthen Russia's hand in ongoing talks on establishing terms for gas transit through Ukraine starting next year, after their current contract expires. The two sides have held several rounds of talks, so far without any progress.
Like elsewhere in Europe, Gazprom is struggling with rising competition and flat demand in the Turkish market. Its supplies to the country slumped 34.5% in January to September to 11.6bcm, on the back of a 8% drop in Turkish
83​ TURKEY Country Report​ December 2019 ​ ​www.intellinews.com