Page 7 - FSUOGM Week 45 2022

FSUOGM PIPELINES & TRANSPORT FSUOGM

US ready to help get Turkmen

gas to Europe

TURKMENISTAN THE US has expressed its willingness to help to south Europe are discussing an expansion,
Turkmenistan deliver its gas to Europe, the but could free up some space for Turkmen gas.
The US is among the Prime news agency reported last week. In recent years discussions have focused on a
biggest proponents During a visit to Ashgabat on November 6, scaled-down version of Trans-Caspian, which
of the Trans-Caspian US Assistant Secretary of State for South and would link offshore Turkmen gas fields owned by
pipeline. Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu said there were Malaysia’s Petronas to Azerbaijan’s Azeri-Chirag
good prospects for Turkmenistan carving a share Gunashli (ACG) fields.
of the European market. However, geopolitical challenges remain. Iran
“The US is ready to help in any way possible, and in particular Russia, for obvious reasons,
but we will not buy Turkmen gas, we have a lot of show no sign of ending their opposition to the
gas in the US,” Lu was quoted as saying. pipeline. And amid the standoff between Russia
Washington could pitch in to help progress and the West over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine,
the long-planned Trans-Caspian pipeline pro- there would be added security risks.
ject, he said, noting that the moment had come Lu also travelled to Uzbekistan and Kazakh-
to make the scheme a reality, given that gas prices stan last week, with the Central Asian trip aimed
are so high. at “reinforc[ing] the US’ commitment to each
The Trans-Caspian project was first con- country’s independence, sovereignty and terri-
ceived in the 1990s, but has not made any tan- torial integrity, and our shared goal of a prosper-
gible progress since then, owing to political ous, secure and democratic Central Asia.”
obstacles in Turkmenistan, commercial chal- The trip had a clear goal of convincing Turk-
lenges and opposition from Caspian Sea neigh- menistan and its neighbours to reduce their
bours Iran and Russia. Washington has been one economic reliance on Russia. As reported by
of its strongest advocates over the decades. the TASS news agency, Lu said Washington was
With Europe now scrambling for alternatives prepared to work with Turkmenistan to help it
to Russian gas supply amid soaring prices, it take advantage of international sanctions against
would seem that Trans-Caspian’s economic fea- Russia. The official pointed to how Kazakh busi-
sibility has never been stronger. The operators nesses had acquired the local subsidiaries of Rus-
of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) network sian banks Alfa-bank and Sberbank, suggesting
of pipelines that pump gas from Azerbaijan Turkmenistan could take similar steps. ™

Week 45 14•November•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P7