Gas Pipeline Plan Promises Independence from Moscow
Gas Pipeline Plan Promises Independence from Moscow
Turkmenistan and Russia are engaged in a battle of wills over energy. By raising the price of its gas by over 40 per cent, Ashgabat risks ruining relations with its powerful northern neighbour, but the possibility of an alternative export route has stiffened the resolve of this small, gas-rich nation.
On August 16, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin spoke with Turkmen head of state Saparmurat Niazov by phone, in a conversation that the Turkmen state news agency said covered energy matters. Analysts suggest that the call was an attempt by Putin to clarify the position regarding Turkmen gas deliveries to the Russian firm Gazprom for the last quarter of 2006 and the whole of next year. In June, Niazov said Gazprom would now have to pay 100 US dollars per 1,000 cubic metres instead of the current 65 dollars. The Russian energy giant categorically refused to purchase gas on these terms.
Turkmenistan, which is in the world's top five countries in terms of natural gas reserves, can only export to Europe through Gazprom-owned pipelines. It has therefore been trying to reduce its dependence on Russia, and has been assisted in doing so by European countries and the United States.
The conversation with Putin came soon after a visit by Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Steven Mann, who was in Ashgabat to lobby Niazov for swifter progress on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline, TAP, which will also deliver gas to India.
The pipeline is part of a US strategy of creating a “Greater Central Asia”, with a unified energy structure for the countries of Central and South Asia, say analysts, who maintain that this initiative is an attempt to draw Central Asia into the US zone of influence, which includes India and Pakistan, thereby weakening the position of Russia and China.
But Russia is not prepared to relinquish its stranglehold on Turkmenistan’s gas exports. Perhaps to deflect attention from TAP, Moscow has been promoting the construction of a pipeline from Iran through Pakistan to India. Gazprom has already announced that it is prepared to bear a portion of the cost.
This is not much to the liking of the United States, whose support for TAP is also driven by the added benefit of isolating Iran.
Analysts point out that the intensifying geopolitical battle for gas in the region gives Turkmenistan an increasing advantage in the negotiations over energy resources, even when it is talking to superpowers.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
On August 16, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin spoke with Turkmen head of state Saparmurat Niazov by phone, in a conversation that the Turkmen state news agency said covered energy matters. Analysts suggest that the call was an attempt by Putin to clarify the position regarding Turkmen gas deliveries to the Russian firm Gazprom for the last quarter of 2006 and the whole of next year. In June, Niazov said Gazprom would now have to pay 100 US dollars per 1,000 cubic metres instead of the current 65 dollars. The Russian energy giant categorically refused to purchase gas on these terms.
Turkmenistan, which is in the world's top five countries in terms of natural gas reserves, can only export to Europe through Gazprom-owned pipelines. It has therefore been trying to reduce its dependence on Russia, and has been assisted in doing so by European countries and the United States.
The conversation with Putin came soon after a visit by Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Steven Mann, who was in Ashgabat to lobby Niazov for swifter progress on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline, TAP, which will also deliver gas to India.
The pipeline is part of a US strategy of creating a “Greater Central Asia”, with a unified energy structure for the countries of Central and South Asia, say analysts, who maintain that this initiative is an attempt to draw Central Asia into the US zone of influence, which includes India and Pakistan, thereby weakening the position of Russia and China.
But Russia is not prepared to relinquish its stranglehold on Turkmenistan’s gas exports. Perhaps to deflect attention from TAP, Moscow has been promoting the construction of a pipeline from Iran through Pakistan to India. Gazprom has already announced that it is prepared to bear a portion of the cost.
This is not much to the liking of the United States, whose support for TAP is also driven by the added benefit of isolating Iran.
Analysts point out that the intensifying geopolitical battle for gas in the region gives Turkmenistan an increasing advantage in the negotiations over energy resources, even when it is talking to superpowers.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
