Page 7 - MEOG Week 28 2022

MEOG PIPELINES & TRANSPORT MEOG

Turkey works on Turkmen gas

plans, tests Bulgaria deliveries

TURKEY TURKEY is working on plans to bring in gas Caspian to an Azerbaijani oil and gas field, from
from Turkmenistan, possibly for further deliv- which other pipelines could take the gas onshore
ery to Europe, and has started transiting gas to to Azerbaijan for transit to Turkey.
neighbouring Bulgaria at least on a test basis, Another option that has caught the atten-
according to Al-Monitor. tion of analysts is shipping compressed natural
The developments come amid mounting gas (CNG), rather than the far more expensive
anxieties that Russia may cut off gas supplies to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG), across
to Europe. It has already cut off deliveries to the Caspian. But no CNG tankers are currently
Bulgaria. available in the Caspian.
If delivered to Azerbaijan, Turkmen gas could TCR has claimed that its pipeline could be
reach the TANAP pipeline, which runs across completed in as little as a year and carry up to
Turkey to Greece. 12bn cubic metres of gas a year.
How to get Turkmen gas across the Caspian Ankara, suggested Al-Monitor, has mean-
Sea to Azerbaijan remains the big difficulty. while, begun exporting gas to Bulgaria, but on
Turkish officials have referred to using swap the quiet, possibly fearing anger in Moscow,
arrangements and/or a combination of a pipeline which stopped gas exports to Bulgaria in late
and ships. April as a result of EU sanctions following Rus-
There is an existing three-way agreement sia’s invasion of Ukraine.
signed last December under which Turkmen- Bulgaria’s deputy prime minister, Asen Vas-
istan will supply 1.5-2bn cubic metres of gas a silev, said on June 6 that Bulgaria had begun
year to northeastern Iran, which has insuffi- importing LNG from the United States through
cient gas, with the same volume to be transited Turkey. But Turkey’s state gas company Botas,
from northwest Iran, which has surplus gas, to through whose LNG terminal the imports were
Azerbaijan. made, has not commented on the matter.
The deal enables Azerbaijan to export more Data released by Turkey’s energy bourse,
gas to Europe via TANAP. The swap deal could EPIAS, has, however, confirmed that export
be expanded, noted Al-Monitor. capacity was allocated on the gas pipeline
Laying a major pipeline across the Caspian between Turkey and Bulgaria between May 31
Sea from Turkmenistan’s main gas fields would and June 10 as a test.
be extremely costly but there is a proposal for a However, that data was subsequently deleted
48-mile pipeline put forward by US-based com- with no reason given nor any indication of when
pany Trans Caspian Resources (TCR) that would or if new LNG imports will be made to supply
carry gas from a new Turkmen oil field in the Bulgaria, said Al-Monitor.™

Week 28 13•July•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P7