Will Turkmenistan continue to supply natural gas to Europe?

Turkmenistan, which has the fourth largest natural gas reserves in the world, is running out of time in its efforts to feed Europe’s thirsty markets for this fuel.

The country is losing out to other countries, as Europe seeks to secure new supply lines after its historic energy crisis.
All this means that if Turkmenistan wants to become a gas supplier to the EU, it must act quickly.

The country is seeking to mobilize support for the construction of the Trans-Caspian pipeline – this idea has been put forward since 2007-even as the least expensive and most urgent options remain available.

The pipeline will transport up to 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year-the equivalent of Italy’s demand for six months – through the Caspian Sea. Estimates of the cost of such a project vary widely, reaching two billion dollars or more, and its construction may take years.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said about the recently proposed pipeline: “the main question is who will finance this project?””, Referring to the reluctance of European banks to finance major fossil fuel projects. “This is a big problem from a realistic point of view,”he added.

At the moment, there is only one major pipeline network stretching from the fuel-rich Caspian region to the European Union-the Southern Gas Corridor, which starts from Azerbaijan and passes through Turkey and Greece all the way to Italy.

Two fields in the Caspian Sea are located near the existing network, and their development will not require a connecting pipeline through the sea, said Vitaly baylarbayev, deputy head of the state oil company of the Republic of Azerbaijan, better known as “SOCAR” (Socar).

Officials from the Ministry of energy of Turkmenistan, nor from the state-owned company ”Turkmengaz” (Turkmengaz) did not respond to a request for comment.