Statoil and Total did not take a risk to join TANAP

The contract on the foreign companies joining the trans-Anadolu gas pipeline (TANAP) to export Azerbaijani gas to the Turkish and European markets will be signed in Baku in the coming days.

The contract will be signed between State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and BP, operator of the project (operator of Shah-Deniz project).

A source from SOCAR told Turan that Norwegian Statoil and French Total, which earlier claimed to 12% and 5% shares, respectively, in TANAP, will not be among the foreign companies.

The same source said that “the companies did not want to take upon themselves additional financial risks.” SOCAR’s representative explained that the both companies are partners of the Shah-Deniz project. However, development of deep-water section of the Shah-Deniz field was a capital-intensive project ($25 billion) and they were a part of the export group of Shah-Deniz-2 (SOCAR, BP, Statoil and Total) in the trans-Adriatic pipeline (TAP) project. “Statoil and Total calculated that their participation in TANAP will be an additional financial burden for them and decided to take no risks,” the same source said.

SOCAR holds 68%  share in TANAP (operator), Turkish BOTAS – 20% and BP – 12%.

* Construction of 1790-km-long TANAP with the carrying capacity of the first part of 16 billion cub.m. will begin in 2015 and the first gas will be pumped via it in the second half of 2018. The cost of TANAP pipeline is estimated at about $10 bilion.—0—