Turkish pipe maker Borusan Mannesman Boru has announced that the preliminary qualification review regarding steel pipe supply for the Trans-Anatolian pipeline project (TANAP) which will transfer natural gas from the Caspian region to Europe through Turkey has been completed.
The consortium comprised of Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş., Noksel Çelik Boru Sanayi A.Ş. and Erciyas Çelik Boru Sanayi A.Ş passed the preliminary qualification review inspecting all the applicant companies in terms of commercial, technical and financial criteria.
According to Borusan Mannesmann, the construction of the 1,800 km pipeline for the transportation of natural gas from Shah Deniz 2 gas field to Europe through Turkey and for the use of natural gas in the Turkish domestic market will require around 1.2 million mt of steel pipe.
Consulted by SteelOrbis, Ahmet Kamil Erciyas, chairman of the Turkish Steel Pipe Producers Association (CEBID) and of Turkey-based Erciyas Çelik Boru, said that the pipe makers who passed the preliminary qualification review were defined as eligible for the project based on their own statements. Erciyas pointed out that these companies will later be subject to a technical inspection which will determine the actual suppliers for the project. The CEBID chairman also said that the technical specifications of the steel pipes to be used in the project and the project calendar have not been clarified yet.
TANAP will be realized with a predicted investment of $7 billion. The first stage of the project will be completed in 2018. SOCAR, BOTAŞ, and TPAO are the founding members of the consortium which will implement TANAP. Turkey's share via BOTAŞ and TPAO in this consortium will be 20 percent, while the stake of Azerbaijan-based SOCAR in the project will be 80 percent.