Turkmenistan opens up to the world and exports its energy to Europe

Turkmenistan has begun to open up to the world after a long period of isolation, resulting in considerable competition from the world’s major States for Turkmenistan’s resources.

Turkmenistan revived the project to establish a pipeline across the Caspian Sea (TCP) to transport energy from the country to Europe.

In December 2022, work began on the project to transport Turkmen natural gas to Western markets through Turkey.

At a tripartite summit between Turkey, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, all parties agreed to cooperate to develop the infrastructure needed to supply Turkmen gas to Europe, to develop cooperation between the three countries at an estimated cost of $5 billion.

The pipeline is to run from Turkmenbashi to Baku along the Caspian seabed and connect to the southern gas corridor, allowing gas to flow from Turkmenistan to Europe.

The signing of a memorandum of understanding between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan on joint exploration, development and exploitation of hydrocarbons in the Caspian Dostlock field in 2021 has increased the chances of establishing the line from Turkmenistan to Europe.

Given the high expectations for possible transit fees that can be obtained from this project, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey are actively working towards achieving the technical cooperation programme.

Azerbaijan and the European Union have also made proposals to Turkmenistan regarding the transfer of Turkmenistan’s natural gas. Baku stated that since the technical cooperation programme depends on Turkmenistan’s resources, Ashgabat must take the lead in making key decisions on further development.