To meet growing demands in Europe, Azerbaijan is poised to increase cooperation with Turkmenistan, which is home to 50 trillion cubic metres of gas reserves, EU Today (UK) has reported.
Ceyhun Osmanli, a columnist from Azerbaijan, wrote about it in his article.
He noted that Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Turkey said on December 14 last year that they sought "to form a coordinated and multi-option system for delivering energy resources to global markets".
Prior to that, Baku and Ashgabat had decided to jointly develop the previously disputed Dostluk gas field and a trilateral swap deal between Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.
The author also mentions that the Convention on the Status of the Caspian Sea was adopted by all littoral states in 2018.
"These developments could be harbingers of a new Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline, a 180-mile under-sea pipeline that could be integrated into the SGC (Southern Gas Corridor)."
Designated as an EU project of common interest, it believes it could qualify for funding under the 2019 US European Energy Security and Diversification Act.
"This strategic under-sea pipeline project could bring an end to the EU’s energy crisis by securing a cheap source of natural gas, whose price is independent of LNG prices while counterbalancing Chinese, Russian and Iranian influence in Central Asia and beyond."
The article says the EU has pledged to phase out Russian fossil fuels by 2027 and replaced about two-thirds of Russian gas last year.
In this context, the SGC, delivering Azerbaijani gas through (Trans-Anatolian Pipeline) TANAP and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) to the EU, plays a key role in current diversification efforts.
Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov plans to visit Turkey in the first half of 2023.
His talks in Ankara are expected to focus on a project to build a 300-kilometre gas pipeline under the Caspian Sea from Turkmenistan to the coast of Azerbaijan.
Turkmenistan has already brought its gas resources, concentrated in the east of the country, to the Caspian coast by building a 700-kilometre long linear pipeline in 2015.
The Trans-Caspian project has serious opponents. Coastal Russia and Iran - also holders of the world's natural gas reserves - have appealed to the likely risks to the Caspian ecosystem.
Turkmen environmentalists have told Daryo that offshore pipelines are "much more practical, cheaper and environmentally friendly" because they are "virtually isolated from human influence because they are under the water column and away from the coast.
Credits: Eziz Boyarov, Ashgabat
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