By Murat Temizer
ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's gas imports via the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP) will incrementally increase for the 1.25 billion cubic meters sent between June 30, 2018 and Feb. 28, 2019 to 4 billion cubic meters by the end of this year, according to Saltuk Duzyol, TANAP's general manager on Tuesday.
Duzyol explained that gas imports via this "key project in contributing to Turkey's energy security", would incrementally increase and Turkey would receive 2 billion cubic meters of gas by the end of June 2019 and 4 billion cubic meters of gas by the year end.
He added that 190 employees are still operating on the project, whose calculated investment cost at project start was $11.77 billion but fell to $7 billion, marking 41 percent savings.
TANAP's annual capacity is 16 billion cubic meters but its design capacity is almost double at 31 billion cubic meters per year, Duzyol confirmed.
The European phase of the project will start gas tests on April 15, he said. "If everything goes right, we will be ready to send natural gas to Europe by July 1. However, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) may not be ready to receive gas at that time."
TANAP is the longest part of Southern Gas Corridor, which is set to connect to Europe through the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP). TAP will transport 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year to southeast Europe. TAP, which is the European leg of the corridor, is currently under construction, and completion is expected by 2020.
"Beyond being just a corridor, an important step will be taken for Turkey to become an energy hub," he said.