EU sees ideal conditions for Trans-Caspian pipeline

A Senior European Union diplomat in Turkmenistan announced this week that current conditions are ideal for the construction of a natural gas pipeline across the Caspian sea. The Trans-Caspian pipeline, which is expected to transport approximately 30 billion m³/year of natural gas, was first suggested by the US in 1996.

Denis Daniilidis, who currently leads the EU mission in the Central Asian country, said negotiations are ongoing to draw up an agreement on the construction of the pipeline. Daniilidis said that he believed the Trans-Caspian pipeline could be completed before full implementation of the EU driven southern gas corridor, a project to create the infrastructure needed to transport gas to Europe from Caspian and Middle Eastern sources.

Whilst the Russian Natural Resources Ministry proclaimed that any gas or oil pipeline across the floor of the Caspian Sea would be environmentally unacceptable, Daniilidis said that the EU, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan have drawn up an agreement to be signed later this year to ensure that the pipeline would adhere to the highest environmental standards.

Prospects

The planned Trans-Caspian gas pipeline is intended to deliver Central Asian gas to the EU via Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, bypassing Russia and Iran. There are server major obstacles on the path of the project.

Prospects for the pipeline could be hindered by the uncertain territorial status of the Caspian Sea. Five coastal states (Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran and Azerbaijan) are capable of deciding the fate of the Caspian sea, without the intervention of third countries.

Whilst the EU and the US are promoting the idea of building the pipeline, Russia and Iran have strongly opposed the investment. Earlier this week at the Don State Technical University, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, "Our European partners are imposing the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline on Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, disregarding the fact that such issues are to be resolved between the coastal nations rather than in Brussels."

Edited from various sources by Hannah Priestley-Eaton

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