The Southern Gas Corridor, which will feed Turkey and Europe with Caspian gas resources from the Shah Deniz-2 field, was officially inaugurated in a ceremony held at the Sangachal Terminal in Baku on Monday.
As one of the biggest projects in the world with an investment volume of around $40 billion, the 3,500 kilometer-long Southern Gas Corridor includes the development of the Shah Deniz-2 oil field, South Caucasus Pipeline, Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
The Azerbaijan presidency held the inauguration ceremony at the Sangachal Terminal with the participation of Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo and representatives of many other European countries.
Speaking at the ceremony, Aliyev said the project would contribute much to regional development. He noted the project was developed in cooperation with Turkey, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Albania, and Italy, and added that Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro will join the project later.
"We currently have 2.6 trillion cubic meters of proven natural gas reserves but I think that it is much more than this. We want to sell more gas to Europe. It is the most significant market for us. The Southern Gas Corridor has changed Europe’s energy map,” Aliyev noted.
TANAP, the biggest chain of the Corridor with 1,850 kilometers and 16 billion cubic meters of natural gas capacity, will be the first gas recipient by June 30.
Turkey’s ambassador to Baku, Erkan Ozoral, read Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s message at the ceremony in which he hailed the project as a very good example of both regional and mutual relations.
Erdogan said Europe and the U.S. have also supported the project, which "will create diversification of supplies to Turkey and Europe".
Turkey will hold an opening ceremony for TANAP on June 12 with the participation of Erdogan, Aliyev and leaders of European countries. TANAP's first gas will be delivered on June 30 and will carry 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas through to the end of this year.
Turkey will receive a total natural gas capacity of 6 billion cubic meters via TANAP and 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas will be sent to Europe via TAP.
TAP is expected to be ready to receive first gas by 2020.
(Anadolu Agency, 29/05/2018)
