Turkmen Natural Gas to Flow to Turkey in 2002
ANKARA (May 25) XINHUA - Turkmenistan is expected to export its natural
gas to Turkey and Europe through the Caspian Sea in the year 2002 when
the pipeline is completed, local Daily News reported here Tuesday.
The paper said that under an agreement signed by Turkey and Turkmenistan,
the planned 2,000-kilometer-long Turkmen natural gas pipeline will begin
in the coastal city of Turkmenbasi and will connect to the Azerbaijani
capital of Baku with a 300-kilometer length of pipeline running under the
Caspian Sea.
The pipeline will then connect from Baku to the Georgian capital of
Tbilisi and to Turkey's eastern province of Erzurum, said the paper.
From Erzurum, the natural gas will be distributed to other Turkish cities.
In order to fully realize this project, Azerbaijan and Georgia will have
to allow pipeline construction on their own soil.
The paper added that 5 billion cubic meters of natural gas will flow
to Turkey annually after the pipeline was put into initial operation, although
the planned capacity of the pipeline would allow it to carry a volume
of 30 billion cubic meters per year.
Once the pipeline begins operations at full capacity, Turkey plans to
use 16 billion cubic meters of the natural gas for its own use and to
export the remaining 14 billion cubics to central and southern Europe.
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