Azerbaijan to benefit from gas transportation via Trans Caspian pipeline: SOCAR
By Aynur Jafarova
Azerbaijan will only benefit from transportation of gas through the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, Vice President of Azerbaijani state energy company SOCAR Elshad Nasirov said Tuesday at a meeting of the committee on energy security of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly.
"Implementation of this project will make Azerbaijan not only a supplier of gas, but also a transit country. This is a very ambitious project for the EU," Nasirov said.
Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline running around 300 kilometers will be laid from the Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan, where it will be linked to the Southern Gas Corridor. The pipeline's capacity is 30-40 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
According to Nasirov, implementation of the Trans Caspian pipeline project will be possible as soon as Turkmenistan and partners from the European Union agree on gas sales.
"Our Caspian fleet is capable of completing construction of 100 kilometers of pipeline across the Caspian Sea in about a year," Nasirov said.
The Trans Caspian gas pipeline project has good chances for realization, Professor of International Relations at the American University of Paris, Terence Murphy, believes.
"Considering the progress of negotiations at the ministerial level, one can say there is now a higher probability that the Trans Caspian pipeline project will be implemented," Murphy said.
Murphy stressed that the capacity of the Trans Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) would significantly increase, which provides a possibility of transit of Turkmen gas to European markets.
However, he believes that there is a reason for caution. "Russia has no intention of facilitating the Trans Caspian pipeline as the increased volumes of gas traveling along the Southern Corridor would compete with its own project, South Stream," Murphy said.
But Murphy did not rule out the possibility of Turkmen gas transportation towards China, whose demand for energy resources can only increase over time.
Earlier, Azerbaijani Energy Minister Natig Aliyev told media that drafting of two documents under the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline project is drawing to a close and they must be signed by Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan's presidents and head of the European Commission, as well as the governments of the two littoral countries. Aliyev said the first document will feature the support to the project by the three sides, while the second one must be signed between the Azerbaijani and Turkmen governments.
"We have conducted several meetings in this regard and now one can say that the documents are ready," Aliyev said, adding that only a few issues are to be clarified.
The minister noted that Turkmenistan has expressed its support for the project implementation. This means the Turkmen side is ready to deliver around 30 billion cubic meters of gas for the project. In turn, Azerbaijan is ready to ensure suitable conditions for the transportation of Turkmen gas.
Negotiations on the construction of the Trans-Caspian pipeline between Turkmenistan, the EU and other countries have been held since the late 1990s. The negotiation process intensified after the European Union issued a mandate to start negotiations on the preparation of an agreement between the EU, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan on the Trans-Caspian project in September 2011.