Turkey and Azerbaijan have inaugurated the TANAP pipeline that will bring gas to Europe while bypassing Russia. The project has won political support from both the United States and European Union.
The presidents of Turkey and Azerbaijan have inaugurated a major pipeline that will eventually transport Azerbaijan's natural gas to Europe, DW reported.
The $8.5-billion (€7.2-billion) Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline is part of the Southern Gas Corridor, aimed at turning Turkey into an energy hub and diversifying EU natural gas supplies away from Russia.
"Our country is now one step closer to its vision to become a hub of regional energy lines, thanks to TANAP," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in the central city of Eskisehir on Tuesday, dubbing the project "the Energy Silk Road."
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic were in attendance at the ceremony that saw the last section of the pipeline put in place.
The 1,850-kilometer (1,150 miles) TANAP pipeline connects to the South Caucasus Pipeline, which pumps gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz 2 field in the Caspian Sea through Georgia to Turkey. Another section of the pipeline project, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline is slated to bring gas from Turkey through Greece and Albania to Italy by 2020.
The 3,500-kilometer Southern Gas Corridor will deliver 6 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Turkey and 10 billion cubic meters to Europe. Alper Ucok, the Turkish Industry and Business Association's representative to Germany, said TANAP shows Turkey is a key partner in EU's energy security.
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