Azernews.Az

The route of the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) will remain unchanged, said a source in TANAP consortium in an exclusive interview with Trend on February 2.

The source said a number of historical discoveries were made during the laying of TANAP in Turkey, after which one of the local officials made a baseless statement that the pipeline’s route will be changed.

Some reports said earlier that a number of historical buildings and objects were found during the pipeline’s construction near Ankara, due to which the work on TANAP was suspended.

“In the past too, historical discoveries were made during the pipeline’s construction, but the route was never changed,” added the source. “Such problems are usually solved in another way. The issue of changing TANAP’s route isn’t on the agenda.”

TANAP project envisages transportation of gas of Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field from Georgian-Turkish border to the western borders of Turkey.

The initial capacity of TANAP is expected to reach 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

Around six billion cubic meters of this gas will be delivered to Turkey and the remaining volume will be supplied to Europe.

Turkey will get gas in 2018 and after completing the construction of Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), it will be delivered to Europe in early 2020.

Currently, the shareholders of TANAP are: the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) – 58 percent, Botas – 30 percent and BP – 12 percent.

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