EU Pledges Money for TANAP Development

The European Union on Tuesday agreed to give €217 million to support energy infrastructure in the south and southeast of Europe, including a study of a gas pipeline to Europe from Turkmenistan through Georgia.

15 projects were selevted following a call for proposals under the Connecting Europe Faciliy (CEF), an EU funding program for Infrastructure.

According to information, company Dogalas Iletim, will carry out the study on the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) project, the expansion of the South Caucasus Pipeline and the Trans Caspian Gas Pipeline.

The EU Commission statement said that the study will cover details including engineering for the pump stations, pipeline monitoring system and the security system for the TANAP.

The EU has declared the interconnector linking gas networks in Romania, Bulgaria, Austria and Hungary will also receive EU funding.

Back in March 2015, the three presidents from Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan launched the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project, a gas pipeline to the EU that bypassed Russia. The project is being implemented under the name the Southern Gas Corridor and aims at reducing Europe’s dependence on the Russian gas.

The cost of the project is thought to be around $11 billion and is predicted to be completed for 2018. According to official information, the initial capacity of 16 billion cubic meters is to be increased to 23 billion within a few years of completion, and up to 31 billion by 2026.