Updated on
Summary
Turkmenistan, Central Asia's largest gas producer, launched a new pipeline on Wednesday that will more than double its gas sales to Iran. Together with a pipeline to China launched last month, the new link will enable Turkmenistan to ship more gas to Iran and China combined than to Russia's Gazprom which has dominated the region's market for decades. Two pipelines (the old and the new one) will be able to ship up to 20 billion cubic metres of gas, Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov told reporters at the Dovletabad gas field where the 31-kilometre (19-mile) link originates. Up until now, Turkmenistan has operated a smaller pipeline to Iran with a capacity of 8 billion cubic metres (bcm) a year. It used to sell up to 50 bcm a year to Russia but supplies were halted for most of 2009 due to a pricing dispute and will fall to 30 bcm this year. Last month, Turkmenistan launched a pipeline to China which would eventually ship up to 40 bcm of gas a year. Iran uses Turkmen gas, also shipped in liquefied form by tankers over the Caspian, to supply its northern provinces and free up more of its own gas for exports. The second Turkmenistan gas pipeline to Iran was inaugurated today and this is a big development in terms of technical issues and this gas pipeline was inaugurated with Iran and Turkmenistan's mutual technical cooperation, said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who also attended the ceremony in the windswept steppe. This gas pipeline will increase the volume of Turkmenistan's exported gas to Iran by up to 20 billion cubic metres annually. This number is very important, he added. The West is courting Turkmenistan to secure supplies for the EU-sponsored Nabucco pipeline project, which would bypass Russia. Ashgabat has expressed interest in supplying Nabucco but is yet to take any practical steps to join the project.
