The Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) as a unique project in the Eurasian gas network: a comparative analysis

Abstract

Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) as a part of the Southern Gas Corridor has significant implications for the transit security of the European Union and the domestic gas market of Turkey. Among those countries in Eurasia, only Turkey's process of liberalization is a success story, albeit an incomplete one. Surrounded by liberal markets to the West and monopolistic markets to the East, Turkey partially possesses a competitive gas market. TANAP, a unique project among the international pipelines in Eurasia, strengthens Turkey's peculiar position by de facto ending the monopoly of the incumbent BOTAŞ over gas transmission and thus contributes to the liberalization of the domestic market.