Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, June 19 / Trend, H. Hasanov /
At a government meeting, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov instructed that a detailed study is to be carried out into the issue of financing the East-West gas pipeline project, the Turkmen government said on Tuesday.
'President Berdimuhammadov instructed the vice premier jointly with the heads of relevant agencies to study this issue in detail and present concrete proposals in this regard', the report says.
The general contractor for the East-West project is Turkmengaz State Concern. The pipeline will be laid for connection of fields in the east of the country with the western part bordering with the Caspian Sea. From there it may be possible to enter world markets into Europe via the Caspian Sea and Russia through the coastline of the water basin.
The East-West new gas pipeline with a capacity of 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year is required to ensure operational manoeuvres by the flow of gas exports, as well as improve the reliability of domestic gas supply.
It was previously reported that the laying of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline toward Azerbaijan to supply Europe may be the next step along with another variant, the implementation of the Caspian gas pipeline project to Russia.
The East-West is planned to be commissioned by mid-2015. The approximate cost of the gas pipeline construction is more than $2 billion. Foreign companies are being involved in the contracting work.
The main line is being built from the Shatlyk gas compressor station in the Mari region to the Belek gas compressor station in the Balkan region. This gas line will be the largest in the country with a diameter of 1420 mm and running for a length of 766 kilometres.