Pipe suppliers identified for the construction of the Turkish-Azerbaijani gas pipeline

China's second largest steel producer, Baosteel, has won a contract to supply pipes for the planned construction of the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline System (TANAP). The project will direct the rich gas resources of Azerbaijan to energy-hungry European countries. Baosteel will provide 370 kilometers of pipes for the TANAP project.

Earlier, Turkish and Azerbaijani companies signed a contract for the supply of steel pipes. The contract provides for the supply of 1,800 kilometers of steel pipes for the construction of the TANAP project over a four-year period. Turkish companies will supply about 1.2 million tons of steel pipes for TANAP, which is 80 percent of the total, and are planning to earn about $ 3 billion.

A year after the decision was made to create a consortium for the construction of a gas pipeline to supply gas from the Shah Deniz field to Europe through Turkey, Azerbaijan and Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement on the creation of TANAP. The estimated cost of TANAP is $ 45 billion. Turkey will employ over 5,000 people in 21 provinces along the pipeline route. In June this year, the state-owned Turkish Pipeline Corporation (Botas) and SOCAR agreed to increase the Turkish stake in TANAP from 20 to 30 percent.

The initial throughput of the pipeline will reach 16 billion cubic meters per year. About 6 billion cubic meters of this volume will be allocated to Turkey, the rest will be transported to Europe. The first gas flow to Turkey is scheduled for the second half of 2018. Ankara plans to start pumping Azerbaijani gas to Europe in 2019. In addition, Ankara and Baku want to increase the annual capacity of TANAP to 31 billion cubic meters by 2026.