ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan

President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov said that currently, the possibility of supplying Turkmen energy resources to Europe is being seriously considered.

The president made the remarks during this official visit to Austria May 11-13.

He added that in this regard, the construction of the East-West gas pipeline is close to completion. The East-West gas pipeline will unite the main gas fields of Turkmenistan in the East in a single gas transportation system and will significantly increase the country’s export potential.

Aside from the onshore fields, Turkmenistan has sufficient reserve of energy resources in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea for the European projects as well.

Alongside with the existing networks, the East-West gas pipeline can also provide the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline project with raw material. This project envisages construction of a pipeline to the coast of Azerbaijan wherefrom the Turkmen gas can be delivered to Turkish and European markets.

The construction of around 800-kilometers long East-West gas pipeline is carried out by Turkmenneftegazstroy and Turkmengaz state concerns. Eight compressor stations will be constructed as part of the implementation of this project. The cost of the project exceeds $2 billion.

Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Oil and Gas Industry and Mineral Resources has recently said that this pipeline’s capacity is 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

“The projectors of this regional gas pipeline had to fulfill difficult tasks on overcoming the complex parts of the relief, namely: to develop ameliorative measures to fight salines and draining of wetlands, as well as protect the gas pipes from groundwater,” said the analytical material from the ministry.

Turkmenistan ranks fourth in the world for the volume of natural gas reserve. It currently exports gas to China, CIS and Iran.

Reprinted from trend.az
May 13, 2015