SOCAR delegation talks in Ashgabat

The SOCAR president Rovnag Abdullayev is visiting Ashgabat. He discussed April 18 in the Turkmen capital development of bilateral cooperation in the oil and gas sector, the government of Turkmenistan reported.

The Azerbaijani delegation was received by the Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan. "During the talks held in a constructive and businesslike atmosphere the sides exchanged views on strengthening friendship and cooperation between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan , as well as the further development of bilateral relations, including cooperation in the oil and gas sector," the statement said.

However, the report does not say what range of issues was discussed by the parties. The Azerbaijani side is also silent.

According to Turan, energy issues in bilateral relations are developing in two directions: Turkmen oil transportation via Azerbaijan to world markets and participation in the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline with the aim of transferring Turkmen gas to Europe via Azerbaijan.

In a year the Baku - Tbilisi - Ceyhan oil pipeline transports about 3 million tons of Turkmen oil, which comes in Azerbaijan by tankers.

As for the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline , the project costs are $ 2 billion and the capacity is 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year. It is in the final stages of development and is almost ready for implementation.

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov on April 12 at a special meeting on the development of oil and gas complex project called the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline "priority."

The EU summit in May 2013 introduced the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline infrastructure in the priority list of energy projects for 2014-2020 .

However, Russia opposes the implementation of the project. As President Putin said at the summit of EU - Russia at the beginning of June 2012, Moscow will not consider legitimate any project on the Caspian Sea adopted without a consensus decision of the littoral states. -0 –