“Kommersant” reports that on 12 June the festive opening ceremony of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), constructed for transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Turkey and further to Europe, was held in the Turkish province of Eskişehir.
The event brought together Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić, President of Ukraine Petr Poroshenko, President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Mustafa Akıncı and ministers of energy and CEOs of energy companies.
President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov was not seen among guests.It has been previously reported though that Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan invited Berdymukhammedov to attend the opening ceremony of the gas pipeline during a telephone conversation on 2 June.
Today we have taken a historical step.TANAP project is the result of multi-dimensional cooperation.The fact that the project is inaugurated ahead of schedule makes us proud.
The political will expedited the implementation of the project which will become the largest pipeline delivering gas to Europe.In June 2019 we are planning to make the first gas shipment to Greece through this gas pipeline.
The project will provide jobs for 10 thousand people,— the Turkish leader commented on the opening of the gas pipeline.
TANAP is an integral part of Southern Gas Corridor which runs from Baku to Italy through Georgia, Turkey, Greece and Albania. The European part of the project is expected to become operational in 2020. The Southern Gas Corridor is scheduled to deliver 10 billion cubic meters per year (bcm/y) of Azeri gas to Europe.
Turkmenistan is also trying to join TANAP project but for this the gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan.
For this, a gas pipeline needs to be build along the bottom of the Caspian Sea.However, Russia and Iran are against this project referring to the threat to marine environment.
Iran had previously stated that it would not supply Turkmen gas to Turkey.