Gazprom has expressed interest in using the Trans Adriatic Pipeline
(TAP) to link the second line of the TurkStream gas pipeline because
TAP's route is already established, John Roberts, a senior fellow at
Atlantic Council's Global Energy Center told Anadolu Agency on
Wednesday.
Speaking exclusively to AA, Roberts hailed the
TurkStream pipeline as a project that will improve Turkey's energy
security because it allows greater flexibility for gas transit to the
country.
The TurkStream pipeline is an export gas pipeline
stretching across the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey and further to
Turkey's border with neighboring countries.
One line is expected
to supply the Turkish market, while a second line will carry gas to
southern and southeastern Europe. Each line will have the throughput
capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
Gazprom on
Sunday announced that the construction of the offshore section of the
TurkStream gas pipeline project commenced in the Black Sea near the
Russian coast.
"It [TurkStream] does not really change the balance
of gas coming to Turkey. One of the big elements in changing that will
be the completion of the expansion of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum system
and the development of the TANAP pipeline," he said.
TAP will transport natural gas from the giant Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to Europe.
The
approximately 878 kilometers-long TAP pipeline will connect with the
Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi,
cross Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in
southern Italy.
Roberts affirmed that the EU does not have any
role in the construction of the second line of the TurkStream project,
which plans to reach EU markets through Turkey because its construction
is outside the EU.
"Where the EU comes into the picture is with
the termination of the second line on the Turkish border with Greece at
Ipsala in Turkey which is opposite Kipoi in Greece. At that point, the
question is what happens to the gas in that line? The Russians have said
that they would like to supply it to the European Union and, in some
cases, this will go to customers already served by Ukraine," he
explained.
Roberts argued that the under-construction TAP
pipeline, which travels from Kipoi all the way through southern Italy,
is key for the delivery of extra capacity.
"That pipeline is
designed to have an initial capacity of 10 billion cubic meters (bcm)
which has already been booked by Azerbaijan. But it will have an
additional capacity of 10 bcm. Now that capacity under EU regulations is
available for whoever wants to book it on the best commercial terms. As
of around 2019-2020, whenever TAP is opened up for business, the only
supplier that we can see on the horizon capable of delivering anything
like an extra 10 bcm is Gazprom through the second line of TurkStream,"
Roberts said.
"There is no theoretical or legal objection to
Gazprom asking for what is called an open season in which the TAP
pipeline authorities have to allow it to compete. And since we would not
expect anybody else to compete, we would expect a deal," he explained.
However,
Roberts argued that Gazprom would have to give about two years notice
of its plans to pump gas into a pipeline because although the physical
pipe is there to carry the gas, extra compression is needed to push the
extra gas through.
TAP would have to put in place the extra compression, which would cost billions of euros for all involved, according to Roberts.
"It
is not a small thing. So my guess is that Gazprom, which already
signaled its interest in using TAP, will use TAP because of its route.
If they do not, somebody has to come with 5 or 6 billion dollars or
euros to build an entirely new pipeline," he concluded.
(Anadolu Agency)