EU Goes After Turkmen Gas

Turkmen gas will be top of the agenda when European Commission president José Manuel Barroso and energy commissioner Günther Oettinger visit Ashgabat on January 13 

The two EC officials will meet President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov before going on to another oil- and gas-rich state, Azerbaijan, the following day.

They are likely to discuss how Turkmen gas could feed into the proposed Nabucco pipeline running from Turkey to Europe, bypassing Russia. In the absence of a pipeline under the Caspian Sea, Turkmen gas could be compressed or liquefied and shipped to Azerbaijan, where it would feed into an existing gas pipeline that would connect with Nabucco.

European states have backed the Nabucco project as a way of securing gas supplies, and the route offers Turkmenistan an alternative to its current reliance on Russian pipeline networks. 

According to an official in Turkmenistan, speaking on condition of anonymity, "Our president recently instructed parliament to revise the oil and gas development programme in light of expanding export opportunities, alternative transportation methods, and the construction of additional gas processing plants. This may interest western partners."

This article was produced as part of IWPR’s News Briefing Central Asia output, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy.