The Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), which constitutes the backbone of the Southern Gas Corridor and which follows the Baku-TbilisiCeyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum oil and natural gas pipelines, in addition to the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, was offcially launched on June 12, 2018, in the central Turkish city of Eskişehir. Attending the ceremony were President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, President Mustafa Akıncı of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia, and President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine.

During the inauguration, President Erdoğan said, “We are opening the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline, the backbone of the southern gas corridor, which we call the Silk Road of energy. With TANAP, Turkey is no longer a transit country. We have a critical role in the value chain extending from producer to fnal consumer. Turkey is now one step closer to its vision of becoming an energy hub in the region.”

TANAP is a natural gas pipeline stretching from the Turkish-Georgian border to the Turkish-Greek border. It will supply natural gas both to Turkey and to European countries. The 1,850-km pipeline is the largest section of the 3,500-km Southern Gas Corridor, which was inaugurated on May 29, 2018, in Baku, Azerbaijan.

With an estimated USD 8 billion in investment, TANAP will deliver 6 billion cubic meters of Azeri gas to Turkey and 10 billion cubic meters in throughput to Europe per year. The European part of the project is expected to be operational in 2020.

TANAP will be followed by an 878-km cross-border natural gas pipeline, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP). Starting from the Greek-Turkish border, TAP will cross Greece, Albania, and the Adriatic Sea before terminating in Italy. At its entry point, TAP will connect to the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) in Turkey.

Source: http://www.invest.gov.tr/en-US/infocenter/news/Pages/turkey-one-step-closer-to-becoming-a-regional-energy-hub.aspx