By Trend

Trans Caspian Pipeline is key a route for Turkmen gas to reach Europe, Francis Perrin, Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South (PCNS, Rabat) and at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS, Paris), told Trend.

“Turkmenistan holds the world's fourth-largest proven natural gas reserves behind Russia, Iran and Qatar in this order. This country exports gas by pipeline, mainly to China, but it would like to increase and diversify its exports by targeting the European Union (EU) market in the coming years. A key route in order to reach this goal would be the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TCGP), which would allow part of Turkmen gas to be exported to the EU through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey and/or Azerbaijan, Georgia and Romania,” said Perrin.

He pointed out that this project is supported by the EU, because it would diversify its gas supplies.

“It would be part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which is being developed with the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP), TANAP and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP). The route constituted by the SCP, TANAP and TAP will allow the EU to begin importing gas from Azerbaijan from 2020 onwards and it is in the strategic and economic interests of the EU to go on developing the Southern gas Corridor. The EU is ready to bring some financial contribution and some international financial institutions and several Western companies are also interested in this project,” said the expert.

Perrin believes that it would be necessary to have a very strong alliance between Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and the EU for this project.

Trans-Caspian Pipeline envisages transportation of Turkmen gas to Europe through Azerbaijan.

Turkmenistan is studying the possibility of bringing its energy products to the European market. To this end, a 300-kilometer gas pipeline will have to be laid along the Caspian seabed to the shores of Azerbaijan.

Turkmenistan has declared its readiness to supply Europe with an annual volume of up to 40 billion cubic meters of gas.

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