Turkish Petroleum Buys Total's 10% Stake in Shah Deniz Gas Project

Turkish Petroleum Corp., the state-run energy company known as TPAO, on Friday bought French firm Total SA FP.FR -0.46%  's 10% stake in Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas project, making Turkey the second-biggest partner in a multinational effort to export Caspian resources to Europe as it seeks alternatives to Russian imports.

The deal increases Ankara-based TPAO's stake in the project to 19% from 9% previously, and is worth $1.5 billion, according to a statement from Total in Paris. U.K. oil giant BP BP.LN -0.51%  PLC leads Shah Deniz operations that also include the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic, known as SOCAR, Norway's Statoil AS STL.OS -0.76%  A, and Lukoil OAO of Russia.

"With this agreement, we will become a partner in all projects in the Caspian," Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Friday.

Ever since Ukraine tensions led to a regional crisis with Russia annexing Crimea from Kiev, European officials have renewed their efforts to improve energy security by weaning the continent off from Moscow-controlled natural gas resources. Russia supplies some 30% of the European Union's consumption, making it the biggest energy provider to the 28-nation bloc.

Total said it exited the partnership as part of an asset-sale program looking to dispose of as much as $20 billion of holdings.

"The sale of our interest in Shah Deniz is in line with Total's active portfolio management and the focus of its investment capability on more strategic assets," said Michael Borrell, who oversees exploration and production in Europe and Central Asia.

Separately, Turkey's state-run pipeline company Boru Hatlarý ile Petrol Tasima AS, or BOTAS, signed a deal with SOCAR to increase its stake to 30% from 20% in the Trans Anatolian Pipeline, or TANAP, which will carry Azeri gas to Turkey.

TANAP is scheduled to start piping energy in 2018. The yearly volume of gas supplied from the Shah Deniz gas field will be 16 billion cubic meters annually, with Turkey diverting 6 billion cubic meters for domestic consumption and piping the rest to Europe.

Speaking at the signing ceremony in Istanbul, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan cast TANAP as not only a commercial project, but also as an effort to build a strategic bridge between Azerbaijan and Europe, via Turkey.

"TANAP is a project for the future, recent developments led by those in Ukraine once again demonstrate the importance of pipelines that are in harmony," Mr. Erdogan said.

Bakudaily.az