Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan have long been engaged in transporting natural gas to China
Ashgabat
Turkmenistan has expressed bewilderment over the Russian side’s statement regarding the interest of “other countries” in joining the gas alliance of Russia, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.
Ashgabat perceives this as Russia’s attempt to expand its influence over the natural gas supply chain from Central Asia to China. Deputy Chairman of the state concern “Turkmengaz,” Myrad Archayev, commented on the matter, noting that the Russian Foreign Ministry representative’s statement raises several questions.
He further emphasized the need for clarity in the formulations used by the Russian diplomat, as they involve the interests of other countries, including Turkmenistan. Archayev reminded that Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan have long been engaged in transporting natural gas to China. Gas from Turkmenistan’s fields is supplied through the Turkmenistan-China pipeline, jointly built by Turkmenistan and China. Out of the total agreed-upon annual supply volume of 55 billion cubic meters, Turkmenistan has contracted 40 billion cubic meters, while the remainder is supplied by Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
Archayev stated that there are no provisions for sourcing gas from other countries to fill the pipeline, and the plans to expand the participants in the “Turkmenistan-China” pipeline project are not part of the existing gas supply distribution scheme to China.
He added that Turkmenistan adheres to its obligations to its Chinese, Uzbek, and Kazakh partners and expects reciprocity. Any changes to the agreed-upon gas supply volumes and schemes using the existing infrastructure require prior agreement from all participants without exception.
Archayev expressed serious concern about the Russian Foreign Ministry’s statements, which could lead to ambiguity and speculation regarding their implementation by other participants.
He concluded that as a responsible state, Turkmenistan believes that international cooperation, especially in such a crucial sector as energy supply, should be based on open and clear criteria, mutual respect, and consideration of interests, while strictly adhering to established agreements. Fluctuations in the global economic environment should not serve as a reason to change these principles.
Kazakhstan speaks about the “tripartite gas” union
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan officially spoke about a “tripartite gas union” between Kazakhstan, Russia and Uzbekistan, Zakon.kz reports.
Earlier it was reported that the “tripartite gas union” of Russia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan could be expanded to include other countries. This was stated by the Director of the Department of Economic Cooperation of the Russian Foreign Ministry Dmitry Birichevsky.
“The initiative to form trilateral cooperation between Kazakhstan, Russia and Uzbekistan in the gas industry in November 2022 was announced by the Russian Federation. At the same time, there were no official proposals from either the Russian or Uzbek sides,” said the official representative of the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan Shyngys Ilyasov.
He specified that “cooperation in the gas sector with these countries is carried out in a bilateral format on the basis of mutually beneficial partnerships.”
“Given that the gas transmission system of Kazakhstan has free capacities for the transit of Russian gas in the direction of Uzbekistan, an Action Plan was signed between the government of Kazakhstan and PJSC Gazprom to organize work to prepare the main gas pipeline “Central Asia – Center” for the transport of Russian gas to the Republic of Uzbekistan” Ilyasov explained.
Thus, as the official representative of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan emphasized, “Today, work is underway on the technical preparation of the Kazakh section of the Central Asia-Center gas pipeline for transporting Russian gas through Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan.”
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Courtesy: Central Asian Light (Posted on Aug 14, 2023)
