Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 16 / Trend R.Hafizoglu E.Ismayilov /
The East-West natural gas pipeline project in Turkmenistan is closely related to the Nabucco gas pipeline project, which aims to diversify European gas supply sources and routes, Turkmen President Gurbangulu Berdimuhammedov said at a news conference during the tenth summit of Turkic-speaking countries in Istanbul today.
"We are currently constructing the East-West pipeline," he said. "The pipeline will be laid along the coast of the Caspian Sea. There is also Nabucco, which is associated with the project."
Reportedly, the Turkmengaz state concern launched the project to build the 1,000-kilometer East-West pipeline in the country. The pipeline's is estimated at 30 billion cubic meters of per year with an estimated cost of $2 billion.
The project aims to create a unified gas supply system in Turkmenistan and to diversify Turkmen natural gas supplies to international markets.
The Nabucco project is worth 7.9 billion euro. Construction is planned to start in 2011, with the first supplies beginning in 2015. Its maximum capacity will hit 31 billion cubic meters per year.
Construction will be implemented in two main phases. The first phase (2011) includes laying a new pipeline with a length of 2,000 kilometers, starting at the Turkish border and ending in Austria's Baumgarten. The second phase (2014-2015) includes building the remainder of the pipeline on the borders between Turkey and Georgia, and Turkey and Iraq.
Construction of the first section with a length of 2,730 kilometers will begin in the southern part of Ankara (Turkey) and continue westwards toward the Bulgarian border through Central Anatolia and the Marmara Sea. Seventy-five percent of the route will pass via existing pipelines.
Nabucco participants are the Austrian OMV, Hungarian MOL, Bulgarian Bulgargaz, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas and German RWE. Each has an equal 16.67-percent share.