Delegation head: EU wishes Southern Gas Corridor to open as soon as possible

Azerbaijan, Baku, April 11 / Trend E. Mehdiyev/ The EU still want to see Southern Corridor open as soon as possible, Head of the EU Delegation in Azerbaijan Roland Kobia said. "We do not wish to see any delays," he said. According to Kobia, there is full understanding between the EU and Azerbaijan on this issue, because both parties want to make as much business as possible for existing and future gas. "So we share the same ambitions to have the most ambitious and strategic corridor as possible," he said. With regard to the Azerbaijani-Turkish Trans-Anatolian pipeline project (TANAP), Kobia said that for the EU it is important that TANAP is a dedicated infrastructure for the gas that will go to Europe. "Secondly it is scalable that means that TANAP can involve when Azerbaijan will have more gas to sell, and also in the future when Turkmenistan will have gas to sell to Europe and transit to Azerbaijan and Turkey," Kobia added. Azerbaijan and Turkey plan to create a pipeline from the eastern border of Turkey to the country's western border. At present the Turkish state owned energy company BOTAS has a 20 per cent stake in TANAP, while the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) holds 80 per cent in the project. The initial capacity of the pipeline is expected to reach 16 billion cubic meters per year. About six billion cubic meters of the volume will be allocated to Turkey, while the rest will be transported to Europe. At present, Azerbaijan is on the verge of choosing the route for gas exports to Europe via Turkey. Azerbaijan currently exports gas to Turkey via the South Caucasus gas pipeline. Earlier Anadolu agency reported with the reference to the head of the Foreign Investment Department of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) Vagif Aliyev that work on manufacturing pipes and ordering other equipment required for the implementation of TANAP will start by the autumn of 2012. Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az