Brussels, 13/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - European Commissioner Vice-President with responsibility for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic will be in Turkey on 16 and 17 March where, alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Alilyev, he will take part in the ceremonial ground-breaking to mark the start of work on the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP).
The TANAP is crucial to the Southern gas corridor project, which will carry gas from the Azeri Shah Deniz field, in the Caspian Sea, to the European market. The pipeline will cross Turkey from the border with Georgia in the east to the border with Bulgaria in the west. On the eastern side, it will link up with the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP), which will cross Azerbaijan and Georgia, and, in the west, with the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which will pass through Greece, Albania and Italy.
From the end of 2019, the TANAP will carry 16 billion cubic metres of gas - 10 billion for the European market and 6 billion for the Turkish market - from the Shah Deniz field.
Energy cooperation between the EU and Turkey will also take centre stage in a bilateral meeting between Sefcovic and Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz. (Emmanuel Hagry)