Turkmenistan to supply natural gas to Europe

Turkmenistan to supply natural gas to Europe

2010-11-20 07:06:38 GMT+7 (ICT)

ASHGABAT, TURKMENISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- Turkmenistan's Deputy Prime Minister Baimurad Khodzhamukhamedov on Friday said that Central Asia country is building an infrastructure that will enable it to supply natural gas to Europe.

According to RIA Novosti, Turkmenistan is aiming at positioning itself as one of the key gas suppliers to Europe. The infrastructure will facilitate the supply of up to 40 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

The construction of the pipeline is part of the Nabucco project, a European Union-supported initiative. The Nabucco project is a key element of the EU's strategy to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian energy supplies.

Turkmenistan has the world's fourth-largest gas reserves. The Central Asian country is looking to diversify exports of natural gas that traditionally come from Russia.

The Nabucco project was designed to pump gas from the Caspian Sea region to European countries via Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Austria.

The $11-billion pipeline is expected to have an annual capacity of 31 billion cubic meters of gas, or no more than 5% of Europe's gas consumption in 2020.

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