Turkey is seeking to increase its 20% stake in the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas
Pipeline (TANAP) project, which will carry Azeri gas to Europe through Turkey,
Turkish media reported on Wednesday.
Azeri state-owned oil and gas
company SOCAR, which owns 80% of TANAP, and the government in Ankara are holding
talks on the issue, daily Dunya reported, quoting SOCAR president Rovnag
Abdullayev.
A decision can be expected only after SOCAR completes
negotiations with Norway's Statoil and France's Total on the sale of stakes in
TANAP, the daily added.
SOCAR is currently in talks to sell 12% of its
stake in TANAP to Norway's Statoil and 5.0% to France's Total.
Last week
Reuters reported, quoting sources in the know, that SOCAR has agreed to sell 12%
of its stake in TANAP to BP.
Turkey owns 20% of TANAP through state-owned
companies Botas and TPAO.
The TANAP pipeline is expected to carry natural
gas with an initial capacity of 16 billion cubic metres (bcm) per year and to
reach an annual capacity of up to 23 bcm by 2023 and 31 bcm by 2026.