BISHKEK (TCA) — With China being the only buyer of Turkmen natural gas after the suspension of gas supplies to Iran early this year, Turkmenistan is striving to find new sales markets for its gas, and a planned trans-Caspian pipeline to Azerbaijan seems to be a promising option for Ashgabat. We are republishing this article by David O'Byrne on the issue, originally published by EurasiaNet.org: After close to 30 years of haggling over the legal status of the Caspian Sea, the five littoral states appear to have finally settled their differences and agreed on delineating their maritime borders. If finalized, the deal could pave the way for the export of Turkmenistan’s vast natural gas reserves to Europe. Details of the agreement have not been released and some elements may only be finalized when the final text is signed next year by the heads of the five states: Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Azerbaijan. “We have found solutions to all the remaining open, key issues related to the preparation of the draft Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after a meeting with his Caspian counterparts in Moscow on December 5. “The text of the document is, in fact, ready.” A compromise by Turkmenistan over how its maritime border with Azerbaijan is determined appears to be the breakthrough that made finalization of the pact possible. Under the compromise, Ashgabat reportedly would drop its claim to part of Azerbaijan's Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field, and would also likely lead to talks over other disputed assets like Kapaz/Sardar, an oil and gas field located midway between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan and claimed by both. “In the coming months the two countries will also start discussing joint oil and gas projects and perhaps some form of production sharing agreement regarding the Kapaz/Sardar field,” said Efgan Nifti, director of the Washington-based Caspian Policy Center. The agreement also appears to remove the ability of Russia or Iran to block the development of a pipeline to transit Turkmen gas across the Caspian to Azerbaijan and possibly on to Europe. Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov said the deal that has been reached stipulates that pipeline projects only need to be approved by the countries whose waters the pipeline would traverse. “At least on the legal level, no one can now object if Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan decide to build a pipeline,” Nifti said. It's not clear what might have led Russia, which has for years strenuously opposed the construction of a pipeline across the Caspian, to make this concession. Russian officials have not publicly addressed the issue. Alexander Knyazev, a pro-Kremlin analyst, told the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta that Russia could resort to old-fashioned saber-rattling techniques to disrupt the construction of any pipeline that Moscow opposed. “The issue [of a pipeline] isn't eliminated, but if the project is realized, conflict could take place, most likely, in less civilized forms,” Knyazev said. “And in that case, the Russian Caspian Flotilla, which de facto dominates the...
