Turkmenistan: to Europe without Gazprom

At the end of 2015, the construction of the East-West gas pipeline will be completed in Turkmenistan, it will connect one of the largest gas fields in the world and the Caspian coast. This will allow Ashgabat to create a unified gas transportation system for the country and will facilitate access to new foreign markets. This greatly increases the chances for the Southern Gas Corridor project, declared by the European Union one of its priorities in the gas sector. Due to this, Turkmenistan can obtain the status of a strategic gas player and Russian Gazprom will have to reckon with it.

A gesture to an unstable partner

At the meeting of the Turkmen Government, which took place on February 13,th the Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, Baymyrat Hojamuhammedov reported to President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on the construction of the East - West gas pipeline. The gas pipeline, which is being constructed, originates from the South Yoloten field, located in the southeast of Turkmenistan, passes through the Mary, Akhal and Balkan regions and ends in the Belek village on the coast of the Caspian Sea. In 2011, South Iolotan was included - among others the largest fields - in the Galkinish field, which has reserves of more than 26 trillion cubic meters. The total length of the gas pipeline with the throughput capacity of 30 billion cubic meters per year will make up 773 km. To date, 574 km of the gas pipeline has been constructed. As it was noted at the meeting of the Turkmen Government, the construction of the gas pipeline will be completed in December of the current year.