Trans -Caspico pipeline – Wikipedia

The Trans-caspic pipeline (In Azero – Transxəzər Boru Xətti, in Turkmeno – Solosa Turbally Geçiriji) is an underwater pipeline designed to connect Türkmenbaşy in Turkmenistan with Baku in Azerbaijan. According to some sources, it is also expected to connect the Kazakhstan Tengiz gas pipeline and connect it to Türkmenbaşy. This submarine gas pipeline provides the transport of natural gas from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan through Azerbaijan to Turkey and Georgia and in addition to the member countries of the European Union. ^[first] This pipeline is also considered part of the expansion of the southern gas corridor. ^[2] The ability of the designed gas pipeline is 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year. ^[3] This pipeline will provide Europe with Turkmeno gas starting from 10 to 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year. The estimated approximate value is 5 billion US dollars. In Baku, the gas pipeline will join the southern Caucasian gas pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum) and through it up to a trans-anatolic gas pipeline. The planned length of the pipeline is 300 km. ^[4]

In 1996, during a meeting in the United States, it was possible to discuss the realization of the project for the export of Turkmeno natural gas through an underwater pipeline. In February 1999, the Turkmeno government signed an agreement with the General Electric company and the Bechtel construction company to study the route proposed for the gas pipeline. In 1999, as part of the meeting of the organization for cooperation and economic development in Istanbul, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan signed a series of agreements in the sector of building gasstands. ^[5] However, due to the unresolved legal problem of the territorial boundaries of the Caspian Sea and the opening of the Shah Deniz gas deposits, the submarine gas pipeline project was postponed for the summer of 2000 and was continued only together with the gas pipeline project of the southern Caucasus. ^[6]

In January 2006, due to the gas conflict between Russia and Ukraine, an interest in the trans-capic pipeline was born again. On January 11, 2006, Prime Minister Azero Artur Rasizadə offered Kazakh Prime Minister Danieyal Akhmetov the export of Kazakh gas in Turkey through the southern Caucasian gas pipeline and from there to the European market. In March 2006, the president of Turkmenistan announced his intention to resume negotiations on the pipeline. In May, as part of his visit to Kazakhstan, the European Commissioner for Energy declared the full support of the European Union for the construction of the Trans-Capo pipeline. The Minister of Industry and Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Natig əLiyev, in an international conference on Energy in Baku, spoke of the particular details of the trans-capitic gas pipeline, which can influence the diversification of the lower supplies and prices . On the other hand, the Minister of Industry and Energy of the Russian Federation spoke of the technical, legal, environmental and other risks that the trans-capic project could generate and said that the risks are so large that if not Having no political support, it will be impossible to find an investor.

On May 12, 2007, a trilateral pact between Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan was signed on the export of gas from Central Asia to Europe through the reconstructed and expanded western branch of the center of the Central Asia gas pipeline. It seemed like the collapse of the Trans-Caspico project, even if President Turkmeno Gurbanguly Berdimuhadow announced the continuation of the project to build the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline.

On September 4, 2008, the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran said that Iran opposes the construction of any submarine pipeline in the Caspian due to environmental considerations. According to the region expert, this declaration has endangered the project of the trans-caps pipeline. ^[7] However, on December 22, 2008, the Austrian company Omv and the German company RWE, who were partners of the Nabucco international gas pipeline, announced the joint training of the Caspian Energy Company for the exploration of the route of a possible pipeline through the Caspian Sea. Based on the results of the exploration, the company plans to build a gas transport system through the Caspian Sea.

On December 12, 2011, the European Union Foreign Affairs Council decided to grant a negotiating mandate to the European Commission for negotiations with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan on the trans-capitic pipeline. On September 3, 2012, after the meeting of the European Commissioner for Energy, the Turkish Minister of Energy with high officials Azeri and Turkmeni, said that Turkey will acquire Gas from Turkmenistan through the trans-capitic gas pipeline. The appearance of the southern gas corridor has again rekindled the interest in the trans-caspic pipeline as an alternative way of providing Gazprom’s monopoly to European markets. The Turkmento gas, together with the Azero gas from the Shah Deniz field, will be transported through this gas pipeline. At the beginning of 2016, a part of the southern gas corridor was installed between Italy and Greece through Albania and in the future this pipeline will join the Tap pipeline in Turkey, whose construction began in 2016 And he will join the southern Caucasian gas pipeline on the border with Turkey. ^[8]

On July 19, 2017, the fourth meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Turkmenistan was held in the capital of Azerbaijan, following which the parties announced the development of cooperation in a trilateral format. Previously tripartite meetings (May 2014, January and August 2015), the parties also negotiated the transport of Turkmeno and Azero natural gas in Europe and towards international markets through Turkey. ^[9]

On February 15, 2018, the meeting of the International Consultative Council of the Southern Gas Corridor was held in Baku, where it was mentioned that the Trans-Caspico pipeline, which provides for the transport of Turkmeno gas (from now on Iranian) towards the Europe is also included in the Yuganskneftegaz project. In turn, the European Union expressed its willingness to discuss the introduction of the Iranian gas in the gas pipeline project. ^[ten]