Victoria Panfilova, an observer of Nezavisimaya Gazeta. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza





A short-term visit by the President of Turkmenistan to Turkey has been completed. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov discussed cooperation with Turkish leaders in the energy sector, in particular, about Turkmen gas supplies to Europe through the territory of Azerbaijan and Turkey. According to experts, Ankara is creating a new energy alliance - Turkey-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan.



This is a return visit by the Turkmen President to Ankara. Turkmenistan became the first country in Central Asia for Recep Tayyip Erdogan to visit as head of state. Ashgabat-Ankara cooperation was born immediately after Turkmenistan gaining independence, and today the country has more than 600 Turkish companies - in energy, construction, telecommunications, the textile industry and agriculture. And the number of these companies will grow. This assumption was made by the participants of the International Investment Forum, which took place yesterday in Istanbul.



However, the direction of energy cooperation is considered the most promising. The first agreement to import 30 billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas to Ankara was signed in 1997. It was planned that the Turkmen gas would go to Europe. However, the contract is not being implemented due to the uncertain status of the Caspian Sea, not allowing the opportunity to implement large projects.



Today the situation around the Caspian Sea has not changed, but Ankara has decided to revive the project. The European Union is also very interested in it, which is lobbying for the construction of the Trans-Caspian pipeline to reduce energy dependence on Russia.

Ankara declares its readiness to contribute to solving the issue of transit of Caspian energy to Europe through its territory. Ashgabat, in its turn, is also interested in exporting its natural gas to the European market. Especially as Russia has previously purchased more than 40 billion cubic meters of gas per year, declined the volumes of gas up to 9 billion cubic meters in 2009, and stopped at buying only 4 billion cubic meters per year in 2015. As a result, Ashgabat has a gas surplus.

The TANAP project, being part of the Southern Gas Corridor, envisages the transportation of gas via Turkey to Europe. It is necessary to build additional compressor units to complement the pipeline with Turkmen gas.The participation of the Turkmen side in this project, according to experts, can give impetus to the formation of an Ankara-Baku-Ashgabat energy alliance, and Turkmenistan has been pumping its oil to the West through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline since 2010.A political scientist, the director of the Alternativa Center for Actual Studies, Andrei Chebotarev, believes that Turkmenistan is interested in joining the TANAP project. "Iran, China and Russia are actual buyers of Turkmen gas. In recent years, the volume of its exports to Russia is reducing, but this is due to not only economic, but also certain political factors. The Turkmen leadership has repeatedly stated the need to diversify the supply of domestic energy resources, for which they should find new routes, including in the Europea. direction. This is particularly relevant, because Berdimuhamedov instructed to bring the volume of production and export of natural gas to a level not less than 83.8 and 48 billion cubic meters respectively. And gas production to increase to 187.7 billion cubic meters by 2020," Chebotarev said. However, despite the willingness to cooperate, there are circumstances which can impede the participation of Turkmenistan in the TANAP project.Turkmenistan has no direct pipeline connections with Azerbaijan, and Turkmen gas needs to be supplied to Baku in liquid form by tankers to resolve the status of the Caspian Sea and the construction of the Trans-Caspian pipeline, which will significantly increase its production costs, since the transport of liquefied natural gas is a technologically difficult and expensive process. In this regard, there are certain doubts about its demand for European consumers.But it seems to Ankara, increasing its geopolitical functionality, that the problems of Ashgabat don't seem serious, and it is ready to play a significant role in their resolution. In any case, Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statement about the meeting of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Turkey in the near future in Ashgabat, was made in this context.

The TANAP project, being part of the Southern Gas Corridor, envisages the transportation of gas via Turkey to Europe. It is necessary to build additional compressor units to complement the pipeline with Turkmen gas.The participation of the Turkmen side in this project, according to experts, can give impetus to the formation of an Ankara-Baku-Ashgabat energy alliance, and Turkmenistan has been pumping its oil to the West through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline since 2010.



A political scientist, the director of the Alternativa Center for Actual Studies, Andrei Chebotarev, believes that Turkmenistan is interested in joining the TANAP project. "Iran, China and Russia are actual buyers of Turkmen gas. In recent years, the volume of its exports to Russia is reducing, but this is due to not only economic, but also certain political factors. The Turkmen leadership has repeatedly stated the need to diversify the supply of domestic energy resources, for which they should find new routes, including in the Europea. direction. This is particularly relevant, because Berdimuhamedov instructed to bring the volume of production and export of natural gas to a level not less than 83.8 and 48 billion cubic meters respectively. And gas production to increase to 187.7 billion cubic meters by 2020," Chebotarev said. However, despite the willingness to cooperate, there are circumstances which can impede the participation of Turkmenistan in the TANAP project.



Turkmenistan has no direct pipeline connections with Azerbaijan, and Turkmen gas needs to be supplied to Baku in liquid form by tankers to resolve the status of the Caspian Sea and the construction of the Trans-Caspian pipeline, which will significantly increase its production costs, since the transport of liquefied natural gas is a technologically difficult and expensive process. In this regard, there are certain doubts about its demand for European consumers.

But it seems to Ankara, increasing its geopolitical functionality, that the problems of Ashgabat don't seem serious, and it is ready to play a significant role in their resolution. In any case, Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statement about the meeting of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Turkey in the near future in Ashgabat, was made in this context.