Turkmenistan's Foreign Ministry clarifies position on Trans-Caspian gas pipeline issues

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan has published a statement for the media on its website, reacting to publications in foreign mass media on the Trans-Caspian pipeline.

According to Caliber.Az, the statement reads:

"Recently, a number of international media outlets have started to publish comments on the possibilities of implementing the project of Turkmen natural gas supplies in the western direction. It is about the construction of a gas pipeline under the Caspian Sea to transport Turkmen's "blue fuel" to European markets (Trans-Caspian pipeline).

Such a "sudden" interest in a large-scale project in the current conditions is generally understandable and explainable. But, at the same time, it requires an objective and clear factual explanation.

The idea of building the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, initiated by Turkmenistan, was initially considered by our country not just as an economically and commercially sound project, but also as an essential component of diversification of energy flows as a key condition for global energy security and sustainability on the basis of equal consideration of the interests and benefits of producers, consumers, and transit countries. By the way, all potential participants in the project agree with this.

The beginning of the substantive discussion of this issue was during the official visit of Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to Brussels in November 2007, his talks with the President of the European Commission, European Commissioners, and heads of various EU structures. In November of the same year and in May 2008, EU officials responsible for energy cooperation visited Turkmenistan, during which agreements in principle were reached on Turkmenistan's cooperation with the EU in the energy sector. One of the results of these meetings was also the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation in the field of energy between Turkmenistan and the European Union in May 2008. The mutual readiness to develop a mechanism to ensure the supply of Turkmen energy carriers to Europe was also confirmed during the official visit of the then President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso to Turkmenistan in early 2011.

In parallel, within the UN framework, Turkmenistan initiated a broad and interested dialogue on energy security, which resulted in the consensus adoption by the General Assembly in 2008 of the first resolution on "Reliable and stable transit of energy and its role in ensuring sustainable development and international cooperation". It was co-sponsored by 71 states. In 2013, the UN General Assembly once again unanimously adopted Turkmenistan's draft of a similar resolution.

Relying on such a solid international legal framework, Turkmenistan made efforts to create the necessary political, financial, and organisational conditions that would make it possible to put the idea of building the Trans-Caspian pipeline into practice. To this end, mechanisms for a trilateral partnership between Turkmenistan, the Republic of Azerbaijan, and the European Union, comprising the heads of the relevant energy agencies, have been established.

The EU, in turn, has also made significant efforts, in particular, in the form of establishing the Caspian Development Corporation as an association of European energy companies, banks, and other financial institutions to establish systemic cooperation to bring the Caspian energy resources to the West. It is logical that the European Union included the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline in the list of promising projects.

In general, cooperation on the construction of the Trans-Caspian pipeline has progressed consistently and practically, receiving political and functional international support.

The international legal validity of the project is also beyond doubt after the adoption in 2018 by the five littoral states of a fundamental document regulating the key principles of policy in the Caspian Sea - the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea.

Article 14 of this document states, in part:

The Parties may lay cables and pipelines on the bottom of the Caspian Sea.

The route for laying underwater cables and pipelines shall be determined by agreement with the Party through whose sector of the seabed the underwater cable or pipeline is to be laid.

Thus, to date, the construction of the Trans-Caspian Pipeline is directly linked to the seabed delimitation between Turkmenistan and the Republic of Azerbaijan.

In addition, Turkmenistan is convinced that there are no political, economic, or financial factors hindering the construction of the pipeline. On the contrary, the Trans-Caspian pipeline is an absolutely realistic project, justified from the economic point of view, capable of making a tangible contribution to ensuring energy security in Eurasia, providing long-term and uninterrupted access to sources of raw materials for European consumers, while respecting the obvious benefits and interests of the transit party.

On this basis, Turkmenistan, being committed to the strategy of diversification of energy flows, expresses its readiness to continue cooperation with partners in the implementation of the Trans-Caspian pipeline project.