Turkmenistan has launched the construction of a $2 billion pipeline to deliver natural gas from its largest gas field to the coast of the Caspian Sea, a business paper reported on Tuesday.
The start of the gas pipeline's construction on Monday was announced by Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.
"The construction of the gas pipeline has both economic and political significance. Its construction ... can be considered as Turkmenistan's contribution to global energy security," the paper quoted him as saying.
The gas pipeline, when it is completed, will intensify competition between Russia and the EU for the purchase of Turkmen gas, the paper said.
The project could be financed by U.S. oil and gas companies developing offshore deposits in the Caspian Sea or by Chinese financial institutions.
Last year, however, Turkmenistan discussed the project's implementation with quite a different foreign partner, Russia. The Turkmen president flew to Moscow in March 2009 to specifically discuss the project with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
The Kremlin pinned special hopes on the project but the deal failed to get through as Russia sought guarantees that the entire gas volume from the pipeline in the amount of 30-40 billion cubic meters annually would be pumped into the Moscow-backed Caspian pipeline to become a major source for the South Stream gas project.
But Turkmenistan refused to provide such guarantees, following which it announced a tender for the pipeline construction, which involved more than 70 foreign companies. The tender failed and the energy-rich Central Asian republic decided to build the pipeline on its own.
Turkmenistan's largest gas field, South Yolotan, is a major source for the pipeline. According to data from the British-based Gaffney Cline & Associates, the gas field's reserves are estimated at 4-14 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, making it the world's fourth largest gas field.
MOSCOW, June 1 (RIA Novosti)
