Iğdır-Nakhchivan Gas Pipeline

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

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Iğdır-Nakhchivan Gas Pipeline is a gas pipeline under construction in Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Location

The pipeline is proposed to run from Iğdır, Turkey to Sederek, Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Azerbaijan.

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Project Details

• Operator: Botaş, SOCAR
• Owner: Botaş, SOCAR
• Parent company: Botaş, SOCAR
• Capacity: 0.73 bcm/year
• Length: 160 km/ 99.42 mi
• Diameter: 16 in
• Status: Construction
• Start Year: 2024
• Cost: TL 185 mln (USD 13.7 mln)
• Financing: Turkey
• Associated infrastructure: Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline

Background

The pipeline is intended to supply gas from Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) in Turkey to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, replacing the current gas supply from Iran. A memorandum of understanding for the construction of this pipeline was signed between the Turkish company Botas and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) in 2010. In December 2020, Turkey’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez and Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). According to Donmez, with this pipeline, it will be possible to meet the current total gas demand of Nakhchivan.

In June 2021, Turkey’s National Gas Company, Botas, has submitted auctions to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic for the construction of the pipeline, and Turkish and foreign companies have submitted bids for the construction. The auction will last until the end of June 2021 and the pipeline is expected to be built within nine months from that date. The construction is planned to start in 2022. As of August 2022, the construction seems to not have begun yet.

In March 2023, the Energy Ministry of Azerbaijan announced that construction of the Turkish portion of the Igdir-Nakhchivan gas pipeline will commence soon. The announcement was made during a meeting between the Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov and his Turkish counterpart Fateh Donmaz at the Organization of Turkish States conference in Budapest where the parties, among other issues, discussed implementing the Igdir-Nakhchivan pipeline project. In July 2023, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov mentioned that it was important for Azerbaijan and Turkey to start construction of the pipeline and finish it by 2024.

The construction of the pipeline commenced in September 2023. The pipeline will run for 80 kilometers inside Turkey between Turkey's main transit pipeline at Igdir to the border, and then for a further 17.5 kilometers inside Nakhchivan. Once complete, the line will enable Azerbaijan to supply Nakhchivan with its own gas delivered via Turkey, ending the enclave's dependence on Iranian gas imported directly through a separate pipeline from Iran. Nakhchivan's annual gas demand is reported to be around 0.5 bcm/year with President Aliyev's official website reporting that the pipeline being laid will have a capacity of around 0.2 bcm/day, or around 0.73 bcm/ year which "can be more than doubled." That ultimate capacity of around 1.5 bcm/year appears to be borne out by documents relating to the construction tender for the Turkish section of the line.