Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, July 25
By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend:
The longest gas pipeline in Turkmenistan - East-West is expected to be put into
operation by late 2015. Turkmengas State Concern is the general contractor. Turkmenistan's leadership attaches great importance to this event.
This pipeline is being rapidly constructed to connect the fields in the east of the country with those in the west, bordering with the Caspian Sea. It can be possible to enter the world markets from there to Europe through the Caspian Sea and Russia (along the sea coast).
It should be stressed that the last project of the so-called Trans-Caspian gas pipeline through Kazakhstan to Russia has been frozen amid a decrease in Turkmen gas purchase by Gazprom OJSC.
As for laying a 300-kilometer Trans-Caspian gas pipeline to the coast of Azerbaijan for the re-export of Turkmen gas to Europe via Turkey, on the contrary, the negotiations have been intensified.
The recent meeting of top energy managers of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and the European Union in Ashgabat, who signed a joint declaration, testifies to this.
Previously, Turkmenistan expressed readiness to supply up to 40 billion cubic meters of gas to EU per year, with 10 billion cubic meters provided by Malaysian Petronas operating at Turkmenistan's offshore block.
The rest of this volume could be provided with the construction of the East-West pipeline that runs from Galkynysh field to the Caspian Sea coast.
The total resource reserves of the Galkynysh field and the nearby Yashlar field are estimated at 26.2 trillion cubic meters of gas, according to the Gaffney, Cline & Associates (UK), which conducted the audit of these two fields.
A new East-West gas pipeline with a capacity of 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year is needed to ensure maneuver efficiency of the directions of gas export flows, improve the reliability of the domestic gas supply.
The estimated cost of the pipeline construction is more than $2 billion. Foreign companies are also attracted to the contract work.
Trend commentator Huseyn Hasanov