July 26, 2001: Tabriz-Ankara Pipeline Opened

Despite a history of technical problems, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and the Turkish oil and gas company, Botas, open a 2,577 km pipeline gas pipeline from the northeastern city of Tabriz to Ankara. Iran becomes Turkey’s largest supplier of natural gas. Under the terms of the 1996 agreement (see August 12, 1996), Iran will supply Turkey with three billion cubic meters of gas a year, increasing to 10 billion cubic meters (353 billion cubic feet) by 2007. [BBC, 7/30/2001; US Department of Energy, 12/2001; Alexander's Gas & Oil Connections, 11/13/2002; AME Info, 2/9/2005]