Ashgabat does not expect charity, especially in gas pipeline issues
September 03, 2018 | 11:11 |344
After the signing on August 12 of this year of the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian, experts and analysts of all stripes types to prove to the whole world that nothing is possible in Turkmenistan with the supply of natural gas to the European market. There is a feeling that before the adoption of the Convention there were some chances, and after the adoption - there are not any. At the same time, the Convention clearly states that coastal countries can lay the main pipelines along the Caspian Sea if they agree with those countries through which the pipeline passes. It would seem that everything is clear, construction is possible. But alas, often experts, for some reason, begin to prove that white is black and vice versa. Sputnik-Azerbaijan agency went furthest, in one of its materials it has written that Azerbaijan's expenses for the delivery of its natural gas to Europe via the Southern Gas Corridor will reach $ 11.5 billion by 2020, and the Azerbaijani authorities are not going to incur additional costs on the construction of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, which is supposed to export Turkmen gas. I believe that no one in the world expects charity from Azerbaijan in the gas trade, and, first of all, this is not something awaited by Turkmenistan. At the same time, the author of the material refers to the joint press conference of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel held August 25, 2018, where Aliyev stressed that the construction of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline should be of more interest to the owner of gas, while transit countries should not show initiative here. Nobody claimed the opposite. The issues of export of Turkmen natural gas should be of interest, above all, to Ashgabat. It is unlikely that the Turkmen side asked anybody to attend to the fate of Turkmen gas. All other countries are involved in this project because of their commercial interest. There is an interest - take part, there is no interest - engage in your own affairs. At the same time, it should be noted that Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia and the European Union take part in the work on organizing the export of Turkmen natural gas to Europe via the Caspian Sea. They have been engaged in that work for several years. And nobody was attracted to this work by force. Everybody takes part, because the economic benefit of this project is obvious. Turkmenistan is building plans to diversify its gas exports, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey intend to benefit as transit countries, and Europe wants to have a supplier choice in its energy market. Everything is simple and clear. But not for the Sputnik-Azerbaijan agency, which spreads the trump card: "The peculiarity of the official Ashgabat policy is that the country delivers Turkmen gas only to the border and, accordingly, potential consumers are offered to build gas pipelines themselves for the purchase of "blue fuel". In fact, we should know that a special consortium of companies, financial institutions is being created for the construction of such a gas pipeline, investments, loans and so on are being attracted. And here there is no charity. The consortium enters, only carefully assessing the prospects of the project and weighing its capabilities. All investments bring to investors the profit stipulated in the corresponding agreements. This is known even to first-year students of management schools. In this case, there are attempts to present projects for the construction of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline and the subsequent export of Turkmen natural gas to Europe, both insolvent and not provided with either finances or raw materials. Well, there's nothing unusual there. Turkmenistan is considered a competitor in the natural gas market, and given that Turkmen reserves are the fourth largest in the world, the competitor is very serious. At the same time, Ashgabat was never afraid of competition, considering that healthy, equal competition is akin to cooperation, after all, coordinated, mutually beneficial policy in the energy market can be conducted even by competitors. Remember OPEC!Nury AMANOV
