The Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Company (TANAP) and the TTrans Adriatic Pipeline AG (TAP) signed an Agreement for Cooperation during Construction (ACC). The document stipulates the responsibilities for constructing the interconnection and the technical specifications for connecting the two pipelines, further strengthening project alignment along the Southern Gas Corridor value chain.

Ian Bradshaw, Managing Director at TAP, said: “TAP and TANAP have enjoyed very close collaboration over the past three years. Now that both projects have entered their construction phases, the ACC specifies the exact terms for connecting the two projects. This is an important milestone for our project’s progress; the agreement will contribute to ensuring that the infrastructure for transporting Caspian gas will be ready in line with the Shah Deniz II schedule.”

Saltuk Duzyol, CEO at TANAP, said: “TANAP will be a crucial addition to both Turkey’s and Europe’s energy security. Moreover the project’s international nature will contribute stability and cooperation in its region.”

In November 2012, the TAP and TANAP signed a Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation (MoU press release) which established a technical and commercial cooperation between the two parties and formalised a mutual framework and forum for coordinated activities and exchanges of information.

The TAP and TANAP projects will connect near Kipoi, on the border of Turkey and Greece.

About the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP)

TAP will transport natural gas from the giant Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to Europe. The 878 km long pipeline will connect with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi, cross Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Southern Italy.

TAP’s routing can facilitate gas supply to several South Eastern European countries, including Bulgaria, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and others. TAP’s landfall in Italy provides multiple opportunities for further transport of Caspian natural gas to some of the largest European markets such as Germany, France, the UK, Switzerland and Austria.

TAP will promote the economic development and job creation along the pipeline route; it will be a major source of foreign direct investment and it is not dependent on grants or subsidies. With first gas sales to Georgia and Turkey targeted for late 2018, first deliveries to Europe will follow approximately in early 2020.

TAP’s shareholding is comprised of BP (20%), SOCAR (20%), Statoil (20%), Fluxys (19%), Enagás (16%) and Axpo (5%).

About TANAP

Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline - TANAP Project is one of the prime examples of the successful collaborative projects undertaken by Turkey and Azerbaijan in the field of energy. Augmenting and sustaining their historical bonds of brotherhood with the modern ideal of “Two States One Nation”, both Turkey and Azerbaijan place a great deal of importance in the TANAP Project, which will have repercussions throughout the global energy market. The two brotherly countries, which undertake various giant joint investments, have a long-standing strategic collaboration in the field of energy that has gained momentum with the projects of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum Natural Gas Pipeline. This collaboration will become more extensive with the TANAP Project, which aims to meet the natural gas demands of Turkey and Europe as well as to ensure gas supply diversity in the region.