He made the remarks during the 23rd World Energy Congress in Istanbul, Turkish media reported Oct. 11.

TANAP envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field to the western borders of Turkey.

Duzyol said the work on the project is being carried out according to the plan.

"Implementation of the project is ahead of schedule,” Duzyol said. "In the first place, we want to complete the docking of pipelines on the border between Turkey and Georgia, and we plan to complete the construction by late June 2018.”

He noted that TANAP is an important part in the chain of gas supplies.

"TANAP is a project implemented under high standards,” Duzyol said. "This is the longest pipeline in Europe and the Middle East, which will bring benefits to all the parties involved.”

"It can also benefit Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, which are gas producers in Central Asia,” he noted. "Eastern Mediterranean countries can also join the TANAP with coordination with the Turkish government.”

He added that Europe will annually receive 25 billion cubic meters of gas via the pipeline.

"The capacity of TANAP is 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year,” Duzyol added. "It can be expanded to 31 billion cubic meters, but only after 2020. Europe will be able to receive 25 billion cubic meters of gas per year. This figure may rise even more if gas consumption in Turkey doesn’t grow.”

TANAP shareholders are Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR (58 percent), BOTAS (30 percent) and BP (12 percent).