The EU backed Nabucco project received a facelift Monday as Turkmenistan won support from its Caspian neighbors to lay a pipeline under the sea and become a major gas supplier to Europe.
Turkmenistan, which according to BP data holds the world s fourth-largest natural gas reserves, will have up to 40 billion cubic meters of gas available for Europe.
In a statement, Turkmenistan energy ministry said, taking into account domestic demand in the west of the country and supplies from there to Iran, we will have 40 bcm of gas free every year, so European countries need not worry.
Turkmenistan is seeking to diversify exports from its traditional market, Russia, and has already boosted supplies to China and Iran.
It could potentially become a major supplier of gas to the European Union-backed Nabucco project to supply the fuel to European markets.
Nabucco, intended to deliver gas from the Caspian region to Europe, is expected to cost about 7.9 billion euros ($11 billion) and come on line with about 15 bcm of gas by the end of 2014.
Europe is the world s biggest spender on energy imports. Turkmenistan is ideally placed to catch a piece of the action.
In theory, Turkmenistan can build a pipeline to Azerbaijan, a route that could deliver gas onward to Europe via Turkey. But the minister did not specify whether there had been a formal agreement, and he did not say whether Azerbaijan, also a potential supplier of gas to Nabucco, intended to participate.
The Caspian is the world s largest fresh-water lake, therefore its regulation does not fall under the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea that regulates maritime boundaries and exclusive economic zones.
The decision to build a pipeline should be agreed upon by all parts, or else it could end quite badly. Iran, whose Caspian sector borders on the Azeri and Turkmen waters in the south, would suffer greatly from an accident there.
Russia, which also has a coastline on the Caspian, is pursuing its own rival project, South Stream, to supply gas to the European market.
Turkmenistan, which according to BP data holds the world s fourth-largest natural gas reserves, will have up to 40 billion cubic meters of gas available for Europe.
In a statement, Turkmenistan energy ministry said, taking into account domestic demand in the west of the country and supplies from there to Iran, we will have 40 bcm of gas free every year, so European countries need not worry.
Turkmenistan is seeking to diversify exports from its traditional market, Russia, and has already boosted supplies to China and Iran.
It could potentially become a major supplier of gas to the European Union-backed Nabucco project to supply the fuel to European markets.
Nabucco, intended to deliver gas from the Caspian region to Europe, is expected to cost about 7.9 billion euros ($11 billion) and come on line with about 15 bcm of gas by the end of 2014.
Europe is the world s biggest spender on energy imports. Turkmenistan is ideally placed to catch a piece of the action.
In theory, Turkmenistan can build a pipeline to Azerbaijan, a route that could deliver gas onward to Europe via Turkey. But the minister did not specify whether there had been a formal agreement, and he did not say whether Azerbaijan, also a potential supplier of gas to Nabucco, intended to participate.
The Caspian is the world s largest fresh-water lake, therefore its regulation does not fall under the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea that regulates maritime boundaries and exclusive economic zones.
The decision to build a pipeline should be agreed upon by all parts, or else it could end quite badly. Iran, whose Caspian sector borders on the Azeri and Turkmen waters in the south, would suffer greatly from an accident there.
Russia, which also has a coastline on the Caspian, is pursuing its own rival project, South Stream, to supply gas to the European market.
