October 2012, Vol. 239 No. 10

Projects

Turkey Rethinking Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline

Turkey is revisiting the trans-Caspian gas pipeline project, aligning with the European Union, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, to support transportation of Turkmenistan’s gas to Turkey and onward to Europe.

Ten years ago, Turkey failed to capitalize on the first trans-Caspian pipeline project The EU is reactivating it framework of the Southern Gas Corridor to Europe, along with the Azerbaijan-led Trans-Anatolia Pipeline project (TANAP) in Turkey.

Turkey said it intends to import and transport Turkmenistan’s gas through the proposed trans-Caspian and TANAP pipelines. Turkey would buy certain volumes for its own needs while allowing other volumes to flow beyond Turkey. The line is planned for capacity increases by adding compressor power and parallel loops in a phased process correlated with the supply volume growth. The capacity increase to 30 Bcm could raise TANAP’s construction costs from the initially estimated $5 billion to $7 billion.