Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21
By Seymur Aliyev - Trend:
Russia's decreasing the gas purchases from Turkmenistan has once again demonstrated a need for Ashgabat to diversify the export routes for its energy resources. And an important role in this process can be played by Azerbaijan.
Russia has cut the gas purchases from Turkmenistan by over 10 times from to 40-45 billion cubic meters per year to four billion cubic meters of gas per year in 2015.
Turkmenistan's Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ministry said in a message posted on its official website that Ashgabat has always fulfilled and continues to fulfil the commitments on the exports of gas.
"Most likely, Gazprom's desire to reduce the purchases of Turkmen gas emerged at a time when the Russian monopolist's gas exports began to decline," said the ministry.
Today, Turkmenistan's gas, aside from Russia, is supplied to Iran and China.
Iran itself has large reserves of gas, and only the lack of infrastructure in the northern regions creates a need for Tehran to buy Turkmenistan's gas. If these problems are solved, Iran could abandon the Turkmen gas.
On the other hand, China has repeatedly stated a desire to buy all of the free volumes of gas that can be delivered.
Whether Ashgabat needs such a binding to only one market is a question.
Today a project is being developed to supply Turkmenistan's gas to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. However, the project has a lot of questions regarding the safety and solvency of these markets.
Transportation of gas via the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan and further to Europe can become one of the most promising new export routes for Turkmenistan. By 2019, Azerbaijan and its partners will create the most modern gas transportation infrastructure - the Southern Gas Corridor.
Only the missing section, the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, is needed to be connected to it. Today there is a lot of speculation around this project. However, it is important that both Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan clearly recognize that its implementation is the business of only these two bordering countries.
Touching upon the environmental component of the project, one can say with confidence that it is not more dangerous (but more secure in general) than other similar projects, such as the Turkish Stream, which Russia intends to lay along the bottom of the Black Sea.
Transportation of gas through Azerbaijan, together with the diversification of supplies will make it possible for Turkmenistan to enter new solvent gas sale markets. The presence of the ready-made infrastructure will greatly simplify this process.
As shows the experience, many projects implemented on the initiative of Baku are skeptically assessed by market participants at the beginning. For example, the same situation was with the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. However, today it transports oil of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan along with Azerbaijani oil. The situation with the Southern Gas Corridor will be the same.
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Seymur Aliyev is the head of Trend Agency's Russian News Service
