Azerbaijan to spend $2.9b on Southern Gas Corridor in 2015

(Baku Daily) - Azerbaijan next year will spend about $2.9 billion of its own money to build pipelines comprising the so-called Southern Gas Corridor, Finance Minister Samir Sharifov said.

Speaking in parliament, Sharifov said 1.34 billion manat ($1.7 billion) will be allocated from the State Oil Fund (Sofaz), and 928 million manat ($1.2 billion) will come from the state budget.

The projects include the Trans-Anatolia Pipeline (Tanap), in which Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR holds 70 percent, as well as South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).

The 3,500-km pipelines will ship Azeri gas to Europe via Georgia and Turkey from 2019.