Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Aug. 3
By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:
Turkmenistan does not remove the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline project from the agenda, Trend reports referring to Turkmen Dovlet Khabarlary state news agency.
After the signing of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea, the work has intensified to develop a mechanism to ensure the supply of Turkmen gas to the European markets. The EU delegation, created in Ashgabat in accordance with the agreement by the Turkmen government, the EU and the European Atomic Energy Community in July 2019, also facilitates the process.
Earlier it was reported that Brussels and Ashgabat are preparing draft legal framework agreement on the future gas supplies from Turkmenistan to Europe.
The basis for the corresponding work is the declaration on the development of cooperation in the field of energy among Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey and the EU signed on May 1, 2015.
Turkmenistan is exploring the possibility of bringing its energy resources to the European market, including through the implementation of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline project within the Southern Gas Corridor lobbied by the EU.
A 300-kilometer gas pipeline is to be laid along the Caspian seabed to the shores of Azerbaijan for the project to become a reality. The legal status of the Caspian Sea, after twenty years of the negotiations among the Caspian countries, was finally approved in 2018.
Turkmenistan declared its readiness to supply up to 40 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe annually.
Earlier, Turkmen officials said that the EU has expressed its willingness to help attract investments in the implementation of this project. The East-West gas pipeline, connecting the gas-rich eastern regions of Turkmenistan with the western regions of the country, the Caspian Sea coast, was commissioned in 2015.
Oil and gas resources are being developed in the Turkmen part of the Caspian Sea at accelerated pace. With the participation of foreign investors, four projects are being implemented offshore and three onshore.