BP eyes Turkish pipelines for Azeri gas

British energy company BP may use existing Turkish infrastructure to transport natural gas from Azerbaijan if alternatives aren't ready, an official said. Turkish officials threw their support behind the planned 1,240-mile Trans-Anatolian Pipeline through the country last year. It is planned to carry natural gas from the BP-controlled Shah Deniz field in the Azeri waters of the Caspian Sea. The project, dubbed TANAP, could link to Nabucco West, a scaled-down version of the larger $10.4 billion proposal, or BP's planned South East Europe Pipeline from the Turkish border. Bud Fackrell, a BP official in Turkey, was quoted by the regional news service Trend as saying BP might consider infrastructure operated by Turkish pipeline company BOTAS if TANAP isn't ready. "The negotiations on TANAP project implementation have been successfully held with Azerbaijani side," he said. "If this gas pipeline is not ready in time, BOTAS infrastructure can be used." Project partners expect to have TANAP built before Shah Deniz starts production by 2017. First exports from the second phase of the Shah Deniz field are expected by 2018 at the latest.