Azerbaijan, Baku, April 6 / Trend A.Badalova /
Ukraine is unlikely to be involved in construction of the Trans-Caspian pipeline, editor-in-chief at Eurasia Energy Observer Andrej Tibold said.
Tibold said that Ukraine's statement about readiness to invest in this project is mainly politically motivated.
"Ukraine is ardently trying to renegotiate a lower gas price from Gazprom and is therefore actively trying to diversify its sources and suppliers of energy, including gas," Tibold wtote Trend via e-mail.
Earlier this week Kommersant Ukraine reported with the reference to the high ranking source in oil, gas and oil-processing department of Ukraine's ministry of energy, that the country plans to invest 790 million euros in Trans Caspian Pipeline project.
According to the source, Ukraine is ready to invest up to 10 percent of the project's total cost if the pipeline is linked to LNG terminal Kulevi in Georgia. Then Ukraine could receive gas through the terminal that will be built in country's southern port. The branch from Trans Caspian pipeline will enable to increase the volume of transshipment through Kulevi terminal from current 10 to 20 billion cubic meters per year, the source said.
"It would be hard to imagine that Ukraine would be able to allocate such funds for the construction of the Trans-Caspian pipeline, when it even lacks resources to finance the modernization of its national gas transit system," Tibold said.
The Trans-Caspian gas pipeline running to around 300 kilometers will be laid from the Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijani one, where it will be linked to the Southern Gas Corridor.
The negotiations on the construction of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline between Turkmenistan and the EU and other countries have been held since the late 1990s. In September, 2011 the EU Council gave a mandate for the negotiations between the EU, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to build the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline.