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AsiaNews.it, Italy
07/05/2008 14:23
RUSSIA - CENTRAL ASIA
Medvedev in central Asia for energy monopoly
The Russian president visits Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan
to convince them to send their gas through Russia, and reject the
pipeline proposed by Europe. Baku's position is decisive, with
pipelines already passing through into Turkey.
Ashgabat ( AsiaNews/Agencies) - The trip of Russian president Dmitry
Medvedev to central Asia continues, in an effort to maintain the
country's monopoly over gas for Europe. Turkmenistan alone exports
about 70 billion cubic metres of gas each year (equal to Italy's
annual consumption), and the European Union and Western companies are
proposing for Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan the creation of new
pipelines that would bypass Russia, which currently transports their
gas.
The EU is proposing to Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhammedov
the creation of a pipeline under the Caspian Sea to Baku (Azerbaijan).
The gas would then be pumped through the Nabucco pipeline, under
construction, which will extend to Vienna. The country also wants to
send gas to China (as of 2009, it should sell 30 billion cubic metres
to China each year) and across the Indian Ocean. In March of 2008,
Russia offered Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan "European prices" for their
gas, after underpaying for years and using the cheap gas domestically,
while it sold its own to the European Union at much higher prices. But
now Medvedev is trying to stay below the prices that the EU and China
are thought to be willing to pay. He observes that the planned
pipeline through the Caspian Sea could also create environmental
risks. With Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan (the next stop on the trip),
Russia will discuss rights to Caspian energy deposits, contested by
the countries on its shore.
On July 3, Medvedev was in Azerbaijan to meet with president Ilham
Aliyev. Aleksei Miller, head of the Russian company Gazprom,
accompanied Medvedev and explained that "Gazprom and its counterparts
in Azerbaijan have decided to begin talks over the conditions for
buying Azerbaijani gas". In June, Miller was frequently in Baku and
Ashgabat to prepare for the trip. The country's position is crucial,
because Baku is the starting point for the pipeline that arrives at
the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean, and also for the
pipeline that goes through Tbilisi to Erzurum, and gas could arrive
there from other countries, passing under the Caspian Sea.
The gas of the Shakh Deniz deposit should pass through the Nabucco
pipeline. To prevent this, Moscow is willing to buy all of Baku's gas,
more than 10 billion cubic metres per year. Moscow has said that it
supports the country's claims over the Nagorno-Karabakh, currently
controlled by Armenian separatists, which has won it words of
gratitude from Aliyev. Various experts repeat, however, that it is in
the country's interests not to bind itself to Russia, but to continue
instead in the current state of uncertainty. (PB)
07/05/2008 14:23
RUSSIA - CENTRAL ASIA
Medvedev in central Asia for energy monopoly
The Russian president visits Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan
to convince them to send their gas through Russia, and reject the
pipeline proposed by Europe. Baku's position is decisive, with
pipelines already passing through into Turkey.
Ashgabat ( AsiaNews/Agencies) - The trip of Russian president Dmitry
Medvedev to central Asia continues, in an effort to maintain the
country's monopoly over gas for Europe. Turkmenistan alone exports
about 70 billion cubic metres of gas each year (equal to Italy's
annual consumption), and the European Union and Western companies are
proposing for Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan the creation of new
pipelines that would bypass Russia, which currently transports their
gas.
The EU is proposing to Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhammedov
the creation of a pipeline under the Caspian Sea to Baku (Azerbaijan).
The gas would then be pumped through the Nabucco pipeline, under
construction, which will extend to Vienna. The country also wants to
send gas to China (as of 2009, it should sell 30 billion cubic metres
to China each year) and across the Indian Ocean. In March of 2008,
Russia offered Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan "European prices" for their
gas, after underpaying for years and using the cheap gas domestically,
while it sold its own to the European Union at much higher prices. But
now Medvedev is trying to stay below the prices that the EU and China
are thought to be willing to pay. He observes that the planned
pipeline through the Caspian Sea could also create environmental
risks. With Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan (the next stop on the trip),
Russia will discuss rights to Caspian energy deposits, contested by
the countries on its shore.
On July 3, Medvedev was in Azerbaijan to meet with president Ilham
Aliyev. Aleksei Miller, head of the Russian company Gazprom,
accompanied Medvedev and explained that "Gazprom and its counterparts
in Azerbaijan have decided to begin talks over the conditions for
buying Azerbaijani gas". In June, Miller was frequently in Baku and
Ashgabat to prepare for the trip. The country's position is crucial,
because Baku is the starting point for the pipeline that arrives at
the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean, and also for the
pipeline that goes through Tbilisi to Erzurum, and gas could arrive
there from other countries, passing under the Caspian Sea.
The gas of the Shakh Deniz deposit should pass through the Nabucco
pipeline. To prevent this, Moscow is willing to buy all of Baku's gas,
more than 10 billion cubic metres per year. Moscow has said that it
supports the country's claims over the Nagorno-Karabakh, currently
controlled by Armenian separatists, which has won it words of
gratitude from Aliyev. Various experts repeat, however, that it is in
the country's interests not to bind itself to Russia, but to continue
instead in the current state of uncertainty. (PB)