Page 15 - FSUOGM Week 17 2021

FSUOGM NEWS IN BRIEF FSUOGM

Flow of Azeri gas to Turkey Muhammetmyrat Amanov, has met with
Afghanistan's National Security Council
from Shah Deniz I field Turkmenistan gas to deputy secretary Ebadullah Ebad to
rubberstamp measures to provide security
‘stops as 20 year contract gasoline facility helps land for the construction of the 780-kilometre
Afghan segment of the pipeline, the
expires’ Topsoe multi-billion dollar Turkmen Foreign Affairs Ministry said.
The set of undisclosed measures is
The flow of gas from Azerbaijan's offshore project in Texas expected to stay in place until August
Shah Deniz I gas field to Turkey has to provide sufficient security to restart
reportedly been halted since the 6.6bn cubic Nacero has selected Topsoe’s TIGAS the pipeline’s construction – the Afghan
metres/year (bcm/yr) contract signed in (Topsoe Improved Gasoline Synthesis) segment’s construction was last year brought
2001 expired earlier this month. technology for its multi-billion dollar to a halt by the COVID-19 pandemic. War-
S&P Global Platts quoted a source as natural-gas-to-gasoline facility in Penwell, torn Afghanistan’s involvement in TAPI
saying talks were continuing between Texas after observing TIGAS in operation means many analysts see the project as
Turkey's state gas importer Botas and the at identical unit scale in Turkmenistan for highly risky, while progress (or rather lack
Azerbaijan Gas Supply Company (AGSC), nearly two years. Nacero cited the Turkmen of progress) on Turkmenistan’s own segment
the company representing the Shah Deniz operation as a major factor in its decision. of the pipeline has been mostly shrouded in
consortium, over a possible contract The Turkmenistan facility is the world’s mystery. However, the Asian Development
renewal. only operating large-scale natural gas-to- Bank (ADB) in its “Asian Economic
However, the source was cited as gasoline plant. The facility in Texas will Integration Report 2021” report said that the
pointing out that with the arrival of milder produce 100,000 barrels per day of petrol first phase of TAPI remained on track and
spring weather, gas demand in Turkey is component ready for blending into US was set for a launch in 2021.
falling, which—coupled with the availability commercial grades. The 1,814-kilometre TAPI pipeline
of other import options such as spot LNG— TIGAS incorporates Topsoe’s SynCOR is designed to run from Turkmenistan’s
means the supply freeze was unlikely to Methanol technology to achieve economy Galkynysh gas field to the Indian city
cause any issues. of scale. The plant’s design allows for the of Fazilka via Herat and Kandahar in
Two other sources with knowledge of production of more than 30,000 metric tons Afghanistan and Quetta and Multan in
the matter told the media outlet that given per day (MTPD) of methanol, which is then Pakistan.
the very close relations between Turkey and processed to petrol. The only byproduct of Construction of the Afghan section
Azerbaijan, it was likely that the contract the process is water, which is used to supply officially began in February 2018, but more
would be renewed, but that the terms may the plant’s make-up water. than three years later no significant progress
be different from the contract that recently has been reported despite some security
ended. assurances from the Taliban. The situation
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the operator Turkmenistan agrees could become even more challenging
of the TANAP pipeline, which since 2018 with the US withdrawal of its troops from
has transited Azerbaijani gas from the Shah security measures with Afghanistan planned for September 11
Deniz II field to Turkey under a separate
contract for 6 bcm/yr, reportedly said the Afghanistan for restarting
link was operating normally.
The past two years have seen Ankara work on TAPI pipeline
endeavour to shift from reliance on
importing gas by pipeline under long-term section
contracts indexed to the crude oil price. It
has partly done so by reducing dependence Turkmenistan’s representative on the
on imported gas for power generation and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-
by increasingly importing cheap spot LNG. India (TAPI) pipeline project board,

Week 17 28•April•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P15