Ashkhabad negotiating for export of Turkmen gas to Europe

The Turkmen government has launched multilateral talks with high-ranking delegates of the European Commission in Ashgabad to discuss possible export of gas to Europe, a source close to the talks told Trend news agency.

“Relying on the resources of the Caspian Sea region, the European Union actively promotes the Southern Gas Corridor project which the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline may become a part of.  One of the route options is the construction of a 300km-long pipeline that will run under the Caspian Sea from Türkmenbaşy (Turkmenistan) to the Sangachal Terminal on the shore of the Absheron peninsula in Azerbaijan,” the source reports.

Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan Natig Aliyev said at the Third Global Open Society Forum in Baku on April 29 that the negotiations for gas supply from Central Asia to Europe have been continuing for several years already.  Turkmenistan along with Russia and Qatar has solid gas resources, the minister said.

Brussels has lately called on the European companies interested in import of the Turkmen gas to join the talks. To that end, the Caspian Development Corporation is being established.

At the initial stage, the deposits in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea may become a resource base for the gas supply through the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline. The explored and confirmed reserves of natural gas there will enable Turkmenistan to export 16 billion cu m of gas to Europe annually.

The Trans-Caspian gas pipeline project that will link Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan is necessary to connect the latter to the Southern Gas Corridor to export gas to Europe passing by Russia. To connect to the “south corridor,” a 300km pipeline to Azerbaijan should be laid from Turkmenistan under the Caspian Sea.