New Europe: Trans-Anatolia, Nabucco and South Stream pipelines bet on Turkey
Competition in the so-called Southern Gas Corridor from the Caspian Sea basin to Europe is heating up. In December, Turkey and Azerbaijan signed an agreement to build a pipeline to carry natural gas to Europe from the Caspian region.
The Trans-Anatolia pipeline (TAGP) will have a capacity of 16 billion cubic metres per year and cross 2,000 kilometres. The first delivery of gas is planned for 2017. Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz and Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natik Aliev inked the deal for the Trans-Anatolia pipeline’s construction. The agreement also established that Azeri state oil company SOCAR will build the pipeline with Turkish Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS) and TPAO.
“But TAGP is not very well defined yet. It seems firstly the BOTAS gas transmission system will be used; later another transmission pipeline may be built next to it,” Gokhan Yardim, general manager of Angoragaz Import Export Wholesale Inc. in Ankara, told New Europe on 5 January. “I have doubts about how capacity reservation for local existing system will be done for local shippers. Will Azerbaijan have a priority, then what about non-discriminatory principals written in Turkish Market Law 4646? Whether the legal issues would be solved in the same pipeline by the Turkish legal system or by international arbitration has to be clarified. But if TAGP is a separate pipeline then everything will be very easy,” Yardim added.
The pipeline may be linked with Nabucco, the OMV-led project designed to bring Caspian gas to Europe, Yildiz has said.