Page 12 - Downstream Monitor - MEA Week 32

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Iran opposes Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline “over ecology”
MIddLe eAst
IRAN has said it is opposed to the construction of the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline due to ecology concerns, Ria Novosti reported from the Cas- pian Economic Forum in the Turkmen resort of Avaza on August 12.
An o cial from National Iranian Gas Com- pany (NIGC) said the plan to connect Turkmen- istan’s gas elds with Azerbaijan with a subsea pipeline would cause serious ecological damage in the Caspian Sea.
“ e construction of a gas pipeline from the east to the west of the Caspian Sea could cause severe damage to the region’s ecology... Iran is opposed to its construction,” said Behrouz Nam- dari, speaking at the Caspian Economic Forum.
He added that Iran was o ering its neigh- bours opportunities to use its infrastructure, including gas pipelines and terminals, to supply gas to world markets.
The Turkmen would like to see their gas transited through the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipe- line flow on to European markets via Azer- baijan. Iran has an eye on tying neighbouring
Turkmenistan into Iran’s gas network, a move that would allow Tehran to accrue transit income from gas sent further a eld to export markets.
If via Azerbaijani and Georgian links Turk- menistan was connected to the Trans Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) that reaches the Greek border through Turkey, the Turkmen would open up a route to exporting gas to European markets.
TANAP connects to the Trans-Adriatic Pipe- line (TAP) that is to make landfall in southern Italy via Albania and a subsea route under the Adriatic Sea.™
Kenya seeks funds to make LAPSSET progress
AfRICA
KENYA is seeking investors for its Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) corridor project as it seeks to make up a shortfall in funding for around KES2.5tn ($24bn).
e broad infrastructure project comprises a re ned fuel pipeline, a crude oil pipeline, a sea port, roads, airports, a railway and resort cities, but progress has been slowed by civil issues and a lack of buy-in from the governments involved.
Execution has been somewhat inevitably slow, not least because of civil war in South Sudan, but the Kenyan elements are the most advanced. A road between Isiolo and Moyale on the Ethiopian border was completed in July 2017 and the LAPSSET Corridor development Authority (LCdA) announced the completion of the rst of the port’s 22 planned berths earlier this month.
under the LAPSSET masterplan, the prod- ucts pipeline would eventually extend from Moyale to Hawassa and then to Addis Ababa. Ethiopia’s rapprochement with neighbour- ing Eritrea has been seen as weakening its
commitment to the project.
Lacking funding, the Kenyan government
has turned to the African union (Au) and other regional investment groups.
A statement from LCdA this week read: “Au’s special envoy plans to convene a high- level meeting with the countries that fall along Africa’s equatorial land bridge later in the year with an aim of forming these crucial transport infrastructure linkages within the continent.”
The announcement followed a meeting between officials from LCdA and Au High Representative on Infrastructure development Raila Odinga who is seen pushing for the pro- ject’s development as an opportunity to increase integration through infrastructure development and trade in East Africa.
In late July, Kenya’s National Lands Com- mission (NLC) started surveying the route of the Lokichar-Lamu pipeline, the oil conduit element of LAPSSET, following the completion of front-end engineering design (FEEd) on the project.™
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 32 15•August•2019