Turkey's state company Botas will be responsible for laying a 250 kilometer section of the pipeline on Turkish territory. The pairing is intended to enhance the commercial profitability of either line. The signing of the gas agreements consequently lends added impetus to the oil export project. This pair of lines forms the backbone of the planned East-West transit corridor for Caspian fuels. The signed agreements create for the first time a palpable, as distinct from projected, Western and Turkish economic and political stake in Georgia's security and independence from Russia.
Turkey constitutes the world's fastest-growing national market for gas.
Ankara plans to import major amounts from Russia and Iran as well. Even so, the import commitment just signed regarding Shah-Deniz gas probably leaves scope for an increase in coming years. After all, the amount just contracted is a fraction of Azerbaijan's export potential. The March 12 agreement could have been signed some months earlier, but was held up by the erratic conduct of Turkmen president Saparmurat Niazov, whose country was to have been a partner in this project. A Transcaspian Gas Pipeline from Turkmenistan to Baku is planned to feed Turkmen gas into the pipeline to Turkey.