Trans-Caspian pipeline: The EU wants to resume talks with Turkmenistan about the construction of the Trans Caspian pipeline, a project that would entail laying a pipeline along the bed of the Caspian Sea from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan and then through Georgia and Turkey to Europe. EU’s ambassador in Ashgabat Denis Daniilidis told Reuters this week that the EC’s Energy Union Chief Maros Sefcovic was planning to visit Turkmenistan in the next few months to discuss reviving the project with involvement from European energy companies.
Last year, Turkmenistan and Turkey signed a framework agreement to supply gas to the proposed Trans-Anatolian natural gas pipeline project (TANAP), which will take gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz II field in the Caspian Sea; but to effect this, Turkmenistan needs to build its own link under the Caspian Sea.
That project has been at a stalemate for some years due to political, ecological and financial uncertainties, principally because Russia and Iran insist that any decision on the pipeline should be mutually acceptable to all Caspian Sea littoral countries.
Earlier this month, the government in Ashgabat said that it was in active negotiations with EU countries regarding the supply to Europe of 10-30bn m³ a year.
Trans-Caspian pipeline talks to be revived as EU looks for new gas supplies
Proposed route of Trans Caspian pipeline
Source: Rosbalt