JAN. 13/5 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso visited Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to try to persuade them to supply gas to Europe through planned routes running from the Caspian Sea across the South Caucasus. EU officials said Azerbaijan had committed to supplying gas and that Turkmenistan had pledged closer cooperation in 2011.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 23, published on Jan. 17 2011)
JAN. 11 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov sacked the head of the country’s gas company, Dovlet Mommayev, after only 3 months in the job, media reported quoting state TV. Amanali Khanaliyev, previously head of building pipelines, is the new head of Turkmengaz.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 23, published on Jan. 17 2011)
JAN. 5 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said he will visit Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan from Jan. 13 – Jan. 15 to persuade them to commit to the proposed Nabucco gas pipeline. The $11b Nabucco pipeline is key to Europe’s plan to reduce its reliance on Russia for energy.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 22, published on Jan. 11 2011)
DEC. 21 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – Construction started on an extension in west Kazakhstan of a gas pipeline that runs from Central Asia to China. When completed in 2015, the 1,475km pipeline will run from Beineu near the Caspian Sea to Shymkent on the border with Uzbekistan and link up with an existing pipeline to China.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 21, published on Jan. 4 2011)
DEC. 15 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Chevron-led Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) agreed to double the capacity of its pipeline pumping oil from the Tengiz field in west Kazakhstan to the Black Sea. The expansion will cost $5.4b and will boost volumes to 1.4m barrels of oil a day by 2015. CPC is a key oil export route for Kazakhstan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 20, published on Dec. 20 2010)
DEC. 12 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — It is still a long way off, but Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India took a determined step forward on Dec. 11, 2010 to turning a 15-year-old pipe dream into reality.
The four countries finally signed an accord which binds them to building a 1,700km gas pipeline from the Dauletabad gas field in southeast Turkmenistan across Afghanistan and Pakistan to Fazilka, an Indian border town. It has been talked about since 1995 but war in Afghanistan and a lack of political will delayed the project.
Now, they want the so-called TAPI pipeline operating by 2014 even though the route goes through Taliban controlled parts of Afghanistan. Estimates put the cost of the pipeline, which will have a capacity of 33b cubic metres a year, at between $3.3b and $7.5b.
For the US, the pipeline is important because it acts as an alternative to a proposed pipeline running to Pakistan and India from Iran.
TAPI has gained momentum, largely because India has pushed to increase its energy import options and because of a leadership change in Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan’s leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, president since Dec. 21 2006, has been eagerly courting Western, Chinese and Iranian investors since an argument over gas prices with Russia in 2009.
Turkmenistan, which holds the world’s fourth largest gas reserves, has a growing list of clients and an expanding web of pipelines feeding these customers directly with its gas. If TAPI goes to plan, Turkmenistan is set to become an important energy supplier to South Asia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 19, published on Dec. 13 2010)
DEC. 11 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — The leaders of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan and the Indian energy minister struck a deal in Ashgabat to build a pipeline carrying Turkmen gas 1,700km across Taliban-held territory to India. The cost and timing of the so-called TAPI pipeline have yet to be agreed.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 19, published on Dec. 13 2010)
NOV. 28 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad officially opened the final half of a 1,000km pipeline pumping gas from Turkmenistan to Iran. The pipeline doubles annual Turkmen gas exports to Iran to 20b cubic metres.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 17, published on Nov. 29 2010)
NOV. 19 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan has won the support of neighbouring countries to build a gas pipeline under the Caspian Sea, said deputy PM Baymyrad Khozhamuhamedov. He also said Turkmenistan would be able to supply the EU-backed Nabucco pipeline project with gas.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 16, published on Nov. 22 2010)
NOV. 11/12 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – Continuing a busy diplomatic period, Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov hosted talks with Turkish President Abdullah Gul on future energy supplies. Turkey needs extra supplies for the EU-backed Nabucco pipeline which will carry gas from Turkey to Europe.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 15, published on Nov. 15 2010)
