South Caucasus Pipeline

British petroleum giant BP has started operating a $28-billion pipeline in Azerbaijan to supply gas to Turkey and elsewhere in Europe, the company said July 2.    

Gas from Turkmenistan could be transferred to other countries through Turkey once the Southern Gas Corridor is commissioned, the head of the Transit Petroleum Pipeline Department at Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Ministry said May 30.

BP plans to complete by mid-2018 the Georgian section of a $40-billion strategic pipeline bringing Caspian gas from Azerbaijan into Europe, the British energy company's country manager for Georgia said.

The Southern Gas Corridor will start pumping gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe by 2020, its backers said on Thursday, despite the risk of delays to this option for reducing dependence on Russia.

Politicians and ministers meeting in Baku backed the $40 billion, 3,500-kilometer chain of pipelines, a step toward curbing Russia's one-third share of Europe's natural gas market.

Azerbaijan aims to finalize the Southern Gas Corridor by 2020, Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev has said.

The Southern Gas Corridor includes the South Caucasus Pipeline, Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).      

The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which aims to pump Azeri gas to Europe by 2020, will cost 4.5 billion euros in total, the project chief has stated. 

The Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project, set to carry Azeri gas to Europe, is now ahead of schedule, Turkey's ambassador to Azerbaijan said on Jan. 24. 

"The TANAP will be completed before the projected time and will start working," Erkan Özoral told state-run Anadolu Agency.

The China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved a $600 million loan to finance a natural gas pipeline from Azerbaijan through Turkey, it said Dec. 21, taking its total loans in its inaugural year to $1.73 billion.

The World Bank's board of directors approved loans of $400 million each for Turkey and Azerbaijan late on Dec. 20 for the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project. 

Albania's Energy Ministry and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline have amended their agreement to give more financial support and assistance to Albania.

In a statement Wednesday, they said that following seven months of negotiations they agreed on reviewing payments paid, on increasing investments in communities and on training the local gas sector.