Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Jan. 29 / Trend , E.Hasanov/
Turkmen President Gurbangulu Berdimuhammedov proposed pumping more Turkmen gas through the trans-Caspian pipeline. The colossal potential of Turkmen gas fields is confirmed with each day, the State News Service Turkmen Dovlet Khabarlari (TDK) reported.
Kazakhstan is currently hosting a meeting attended by Turkmengaz, Gazprom and KazMunayGaz to implement the project.
Turkmenistan sells roughly 40-50 billion cubic meters of gas to Russia via the Central Asia-Center (CAC) gas main each year. To increase the volume, the country plans to construct the trans-Caspian pipeline whose capacity has been defined at 20-30 billion cubic meters.
Turkmenistan will deliver gas to China via the pipeline, traversing Central Asia, in late 2010. Its capacity will increase to 40 billion cubic meters each year.
The pipeline is a significant regional and international project initiated by Turkmenistan to diversify its energy routes to international markets.
Berdimuhammedov began constructing a new energy bridge for the first time in spring 2007 during a Turkmen-Russian-Kazakh meeting in Turkmenbashi.
The meeting resulted in the signing of a joint declaration.
The three countries decided to implement the project after a Moscow meeting. An intergovernmental agreement was signed, which was supported by a feasibility study and geological prospecting.
The joint project aims to considerably increase the throughout capacity of the CAC-III gas transport system along the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea. The project also envisages constructing a new and reconstructing an acting major pipeline. The gas mains will be joined with the CAC-IV in Beyneu, Kazakhstan and poured into the Russian gas transport system in Alexadrov Gay near the Russian-Kazakh border.
Turkmenistan is attracting foreign companies to the project. The Malaysian Petronas has signed a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) to create the necessary industrial infrastructure, including reconstructing existing and constructing new compressor stations and gas development installations, as well as forming an electrochemical protection system along the gas pipeline route.
Recently, the Russian parliament ratified an agreement on the Caspian project.
Russian Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko told media that the route will open in 2010.
The trans-Caspian pipeline will dramatically reduce the commercial attractiveness of the Nabucco project, which targets delivering Central Asian gas to Europe via Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.
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