An agreement with Turkey on construction of the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline is more or less ready for signing, Azerbaijan's energy minister has said.
Speaking in Baku on Tuesday, Natig Aliyev said, however, that a date had not yet been set for the signing of the agreement,APA reported.
The signing was delayed from the planned March-April, because of "some small problems", the minister continued.
He expressed his confidence that the agreement would be signed, as both countries had made the political decision to build the pipeline.
The Trans Anatolia pipeline, or TANAP, will carry Azerbaijani gas from Turkey's border with Georgia across the country to its border with Bulgaria.
“Our position is unchangeable; Azerbaijan is ready to ensure the gas security of Europe, especially southeastern Europe. The Trans Anatolia pipeline is a healthy, competitive project and we are interested in its implementation," the minister said.
He said that capacity on the existing
Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline could be doubled from 16 bcm to 30-35 bcm.
This is being considered to cope with the additional 16 bcm of gas which will be produced as part of Stage 2 of development of Shah Deniz, the minister continued.
He said that if the Trans Caspian pipeline was constructed and Turkmen gas pumped to Baku, it could then be shipped onwards via the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline. The capacity of the pipeline could be increased to 55 bcm to cope with the extra demand.
No decisions have been taken yet on the Trans Caspian pipeline. Azerbaijan has the political will, while Turkmenistan’s position is uncertain, Natig Aliyev said.
He added that Azerbaijan was ready to solve all issues that depended on it and that talks were ongoing.
Illegal construction
Natig Aliyev, who used to be president of state oil company SOCAR, said that during his tenure no illegal construction was carried out on company land.
“Reports that these illegal houses were built during my tenure are wrong. As SOCAR president, I gave an order that unused land that the company did not need should be given to the Baku Executive Authorities. If SOCAR land was given to citizens by the municipalities, this does not mean we participated in it,” the minister said.
Some 15,000 cases over the illegal construction of private houses on land in Baku, assigned for the permanent use of SOCAR, have been prepared and submitted to court. A total of 2,444 cases have been concluded, so far.
Attention has focused on the issue since journalist and local resident Idrak Abbasov was badly beaten when SOCAR tried to demolish illegally built houses in the Baku suburb of Sulutapa earlier this month.