Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Feb. 16 / Trend H. Hasanov /
Leading Austrian oil and gas concern OMV has announced its desire to implement joint projects in the Turkmen energy industry. The national television channel Altyn Asir said Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov met today with OMV Director General Wolfgang Ruttensdorfer.
According to the channel, the sides exchanged their views about prospects and possibilities of partnership in the hydrocarbon and petrochemical industries. The company voiced its desire to participate in joint fuel-energy complex projects, the channel added.
OMV will make every effort to establish long-term cooperation with Turkmenistan. It considers the country a highly reliable and trustworthy partner.
"Turkmenistan aims for active dialogue with international partners on an equal mutual beneficial basis," the Turkmen leader said, noting that the country's solid economic and resource potential has created broad preconditions for such cooperation.
As an example, he cited the South Yolotan-Osman Field with immense natural gas reserves, which was confirmed by an independent audit.
Berdimuhammedov noted that Turkmenistan is implementing a comprehensive strategy to modernize the national fuel and energy sector and diversify energy delivery to world markets.
OMV is a shareholder of the Nabucco gas pipeline project. Its strategic goal is the transportation of hydrocarbon resources from the Caspian region to Europe. The consortium includes the Hungarian MOL, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas and German RWE.
Turkmenistan can be a part of Nabucco if the Trans-Caspian Pipeline with a length of about 300 kilometers (along the Caspian seabed between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan) is built. Later Nabucco can pass through Azerbaijan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and reach Austria.
Nabucco will have a capacity of 31 billion cubic meters and a cost of 7.9 billion euro.
Currently, there are no agreements on the implementation of the Trans-Caspian Pipeline.