Page 60 - TURKRptNov19
P. 60
TAP has faced a lot of opposition from environmental activists in southern Italy.
Gas supplies from Azerbaijan’s giant Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea are to reach Europe via the $40bn Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), supported by the European Union as a major step in diversifying energy supplies away from over-dependence on existing sources such as Russia and Norway. The SGC links the 692-km South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) running from Azerbaijan to Georgia, TANAP, which runs 1,850 km from the Georgian border through Turkey to the Greek border and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), an 878 km pipeline which traverses Greece and Albania and an Adriatic seabed route to southern Italy.
The Southern Gas Corridor, made up of three interconnected pipelines stretching 3,400 km, will deliver Caspian Sea gas from Azerbaijan to a terminus in southern Italy.
“It is not TANAP, but the other parties that have not yet reached project completion,” TANAP chief Saltuk Duzyol said in his interview, cautioning: “Commercially, according to our gas transportation agreements, we are entitled to issue invoices starting from July 1 next year.”
Under the Shah Deniz II gas sales deal, Azerbaijan Gas Supply Company (AGSC)—formed by Azerbaijan’s national energy company Socar and its Shah Deniz project partners and which manages gas sales from the Shah Deniz field—has to pay fines to gas buyers if they do not get supplies by July 1, 2020.
Shah Deniz I has been pumping gas since 2006, selling it to Georgia and Turkey. Shah Deniz II is expected to attain 16bn cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year by 2021. Some 10 bcm of that is earmarked for Europe and 6 bcm for Turkey.
“Commercial deliveries of Azeri gas to Europe can begin no earlier than October 2020, since the construction work on the TAP pipeline can be completed by this date,” Duzyol added.
Environmental hitches. The TAP project, which includes Britain’s BP, Italy’s Snam and Spain’s Enagas, has faced construction delays caused by environmental hitches. Completion was targeted for early 2020, but Duzyol
60 TURKEY Country Report November 2019 www.intellinews.com
