BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 26
By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend:
Turkmenistan needs to begin a discussion on how its gas fits into the decarbonisation agenda, ie the energy transition, the representative of Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES) Julian Bowden told Trend.
He said that for instance, many countries see gas as being very helpful in 2 ways:
- As a bridge and companion with renewables. If the wind does not blow and the sun does not shine, then gas-fired power stations will be needed to maintain electricity supplies. In this way, gas would work alongside renewables.
- As a substitute for coal. Gas is not a complete solution for reaching net zero by 2050, but it goes a long way towards that journey if it can displace coal.
"There are two prospects for expanding the geography of countries with the potential to import Turkmen gas," Bowden said. "The first one is excising markets, which means to increase the gas exports from Turkmenistan to China."
“The problem now is that Russian supply via Power of Siberia pipeline has started, so there is more competition in China,” added Bowden.
The second possibility is 'new markets', Bowden said.
“Perhaps one obvious candidate here is Azerbaijan via a Trans Caspian line. The other possible new markets are Central Asian neighbours such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan,” he noted.
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