Page 7 - FSUOGM Week 49 2021

FSUOGM PIPELINES & TRANSPORT FSUOGM

New American company seeks to realise

Trans-Caspian pipe dream

CASPIAN THE pipeline, which would be capable of car- TCR will also need to convince the various
rying between 10 and 12bn cubic metres (bcm) interested parties – Baku and Ashgabat – that the
Gas arriving directly of gas per year, would – initially at least – transit project would be in their long-term interests.
from Turkmenistan only “associated gas” from the Turkmenistan Turkmenistan’s government, suffering per-
would help make up field, that is gas that is emitted as a result of oil ennial economic woes, is unlikely to object –
for the local shortfall in drilling. That gas is currently “flared,” or burned especially as TCR believes the project could be
Azerbaijan. off, a practice that both wastes the gas and con- an initial step toward transiting larger volumes
tributes to climate change. across the Caspian.
ACG also contains large amounts of associ- "It will serve as a proof of concept that Turk-
ated gas which, instead of being flared, is trans- men gas can be delivered westward, should the
ited through a network of subsea pipelines to government of Turkmenistan be interested in
Azerbaijan's onshore Sangachal gas processing expanding gas exports to new western markets,"
plant and onward to consumers. said Mustard.
Azerbaijan's own gas production hasn't Baku, however, may take more persuading,
grown as fast as had been expected, and for sev- given the potential new competition.
eral years Baku has been forced to import from But Mustard said that TCR has no plans to
both Russia and Iran to meet growing local market the gas itself, and will be looking instead
demand. to sell it to Azerbaijan's state oil company
Gas arriving directly from Turkmenistan SOCAR, which can then sell the gas to whom-
would help make up for the local shortfall, ever it wants.
and any excess could be exported through the Contacted by Eurasianet, a spokesperson for
region's existing gas transit pipelines to Georgia SOCAR (which also holds a 25% stake in the
and Turkey, which is currently facing its own gas ACG field) declined to comment on the project
shortage. "for the time being." A spokesperson for BP, the
"We believe that the time is now, given the ACG field operator and its biggest shareholder
need for energy in the South Caucasus region, with a 30.7% stake, claimed to be unaware of the
the need to reduce flaring, the need to substitute company and the project, despite TCR's five per-
natural gas for coal and oil during the coming son "advisory committee" boasting two former
transition to renewable energy sources," Mustard senior BP executives.
told Eurasianet. “Azerbaijan has communicated that it wants
While utilising the existing ACG infrastruc- the pipeline to proceed,” TCR writes on its
ture would keep costs down, and TCR's pro- website.
posed project is modest in scope, it is still far If TCR manages to build the pipeline, it would
from straightforward. end a saga that has dragged on since the collapse
The company is currently looking for inves- of the Soviet Union in 1991.
tors to fund feasibility studies to confirm that the Despite boasting the fourth-largest gas
plans are both technically and commercially via- reserves on the planet, Turkmenistan's location
ble, only after which the precise cost will become in Central Asia has made it all but impossible to
clear, Mustard said. export gas to lucrative European markets, being

Week 49 08•December•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P7