Official Ashgabat has pointed to "opportunities for transporting Turkmen natural gas to Turkey via the Caspian Sea and Azerbaijan", local TV channel Altyn Asyr reports.
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, chairman of Turkmenistan's People's Council (Halk Maslahaty), made the remarks during a working visit to Turkey, where he attended a diplomatic forum in Antalya.
The basis for the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline project is the International Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea, adopted in 2018. Berdimuhamedov also noted that the talks in Turkey addressed issues related to the export of Turkmen electricity and the supply of Turkmen gas (via Iran) under the swap scheme (on a reimbursable basis).
The head of the People's Council noted that the UN General Assembly, at the initiative of the Turkmen side, had earlier adopted a number of relevant resolutions, which pointed to the importance of maintaining a balance between producers, consumers and transit countries.
"Implementing the foreign policy course based on the principle of "open doors", Turkmenistan has an impressive potential for supplying "blue fuel" in various directions."
Turkmenistan is a key player in the region's energy market and has the world's fourth largest proven natural gas reserves after Russia, Iran and Qatar. Current buyers of Turkmen gas include China, Russia and Uzbekistan.
Experts told Daryo that the Trans-Caspian project could be on the agenda during Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov's planned visit to Brussels, Belgium.
The 300km gas pipeline project has taken on added urgency after the EU decided to wean itself off its critical dependence on Gazprom from February 2022 amid Russia's hostilities against Ukraine.
Turkmenistan, for its part, has already built a 700-km linear gas pipeline to the Caspian coast from Galkynysh in 2015. Ashgabat is ready to supply Europe with up to 30bn cubic metres of gas a year.
Eziz Boyarov
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