Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Oct. 13 / Trend, H. Hasanov /
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov met with Austrian President Heinz Fischer in
Ashgabat on Thursday. He said that the legal base is being created to deliver
Turkmen energy resources to Europe.
A special working group was created. It includes top managers and experts from energy agencies of the concerned parties.
The Turkmen President said that the process of the Turkmen-European Energy Partnership entered into stage of practical implementation in early 2011.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso first visited Ashgabat in January 2011. Berdimuhamedov received official invitation to visit the headquarters of the European Union in Brussels (Belgium) to hold the detailed negotiations, including the area of energy.
Official Ashgabat agreed to discuss the construction project of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline in details. The Turkmen side stated that it is sufficient to get Turkmenistan's and Azerbaijan's consent to lay a pipe through the Caspian Sea.
This short route (300 km) could be a part of the Nabucco transnational project.
According to this project, Europeans consider Azerbaijan as the main supplier at the initial stage.
Potential buyers are Austrian OMV, Hungarian MOL, Turkish Botas, Bulgarian Bulgargaz
and Romanian Transgaz, the German group RWE, included in the Nabucco consortium.
Turkmenistan assured that it can provide the Nabucco project with the annual volume of up to 40 billion cubic meters of gas.
Malaysia's Petronas, operating on the Turkmen offshore block, can provide 10 billions.
The rest volume may be taken after the gas pipeline is constructed.
On Tuesday, British auditor GCA published data on Yoloten, Osman, Minara and Yashlar fields.
The reserves make up 26.2 trillion cubic meters of gas.
Fisher drew attention to the fact that Turkmenistan is a major gas supplier.
There are reliable consumers in Europe who can offer reasonable fuel prices.