The Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP), which will deliver gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz-2 field and other fields in the Caspian Sea to Turkey and Europe, is due to start operations today.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev and Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili are expected to attend the ceremony in the central Turkish province of Eskişehir. Energy ministers, executives of energy companies and senior bureaucrats from shareholder companies are also scheduled to attend the event, as reported by Daily Sabah.

A statement said this would further regional cooperation between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia and that the countries have engaged in major projects in recent years that would integrate the Caspian basin with the world.

TANAP, with around $8.5 billion of investment, will deliver 6 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Azeri gas to Turkey and 10 billion cubic meters to Europe per year. The European part of the project is expected to become operational in 2020.

Currently, TANAP has four partners. The Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) holds a 58 percent stake in TANAP, while Turkey’s Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ) and BP own 30 percent and 12 percent, respectively. Seven percent of SGC’s stake has been recently transferred to the Turkish subsidiary of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR).

Turkey imports some 6.6 bcm of natural gas from Azerbaijan via the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline and the amount will go up to 12.6 bcm as TANAP brings in an additional 6 bcm of natural gas, resulting in a decrease of Russian gas in Turkey’s energy imports.