About

The legal team at TANAP comprises of seven members, and is led by legal affairs director, Zeynep Gazzali Duran. Other prominent team members include Arif Eren, a legal consultant to TANAP. In addition the team has five legal counsels, namely Deniz Akman, Hale Ezel Şimşek, Sevde Gökçe Kılıç, Nurefşan Karaköy and Hüseyin Kağan İmamoğlu, who directly report to Duran. The multitude and broad scope of work performed by the legal team requires each and every member to take on their necessary responsibility and also to diligently pursue all tasks assigned to them. Due to this, specific members oversee corporate governance related-matters, while others play a more active role in reviewing contracts. Nevertheless, ‘the team values cooperation, teamwork and open communication above all else and the key to its smooth functioning is trust in each other’s discipline which also is the prerequisite of achieving successful internal coordination’, says Duran. In addition to its regular tasks, the legal team has been particularly active in providing assistance with the engineering, procurement and construction processes of the TANAP Project as it approaches its operation phase. ‘TANAP Project is of a tremendous size with a [capital expenditure] of US$8bn and is of utmost political significance. Overseeing such a major undertaking and ensuring it is on solid legal ground is no easy task. Such a feat requires a diligent and disciplined team with traits such as compatibility, adaptability, cooperativeness and attention to detail’, explains Duran. In this respect, the legal team provided invaluable input to the framework of the agreements stipulating the specifics of transmission of natural gas through the TANAP System, facilitating the operation agreements with its shippers and interconnection agreements. The team also participated in the drafting, reviewing and negotiation of the agreements with international financial institutions such as the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank.