Malaysian firm secures deal for TANAP's sub-sea works

ANKARA (AA) - Malaysian energy company SapuraKencana has been awarded the engineering works for the construction and procurement of the sub-sea section of the Trans Anatolian Pipeline project (TANAP), TANAP announced late on Wednesday.

The company said SapuraKencana successfully won the tender bid, out of the six companies who applied.

SapuraKencana announced Thursday that it secured a contract from TANAP valued at about $125.9 million (510 million Malaysian ringgit).

TANAP's 17.6 kilometer long sub-sea section of the total 1,850 kilometer-long pipeline will pass through Canakkale (Dardanelles) strait.

After Wednesday's agreement, the company expects that the project will employ more than 15,000 staff.

TANAP is planned to be operational in 2018 with an initial capacity of 16 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Azerbaijani gas flow through Georgia to Turkey.

While 6 bcm is designated for Turkey's domestic gas consumption, the remainder is destined for transfer to Greece, Albania, Italy and further into Europe.

TANAP's total capacity is planned to increase to 23 bcm by 2023 and to 31 bcm by 2026.

Azerbaijani energy giant Socar holds a 58 percent share interest in TANAP while Turkey's BOTAS has a 30 percent share and BP owns a 12 percent stake.