Turkmens, Azerbaijan discuss gas-rich sea border

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan — Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan have begun talks to agree on a border in the energy-rich Caspian Sea, the Turkmen foreign ministry said Thursday, a move that boosts prospects for a Western-backed pipeline project to pump gas to Europe.

The feasibility of the Nabucco pipeline — planned to connect eastern Turkey with the lucrative European market — rests heavily on its ability to tap into the Caspian region’s vast energy resources.

A subsea pipeline under the Caspian linking Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, which stand on its opposite shores, would be a massive boost to Nabucco but faces stiff opposition from Russia, which wants a monopoly on the supply of Central Asian gas to Europe.

The proposed Caspian pipeline has also been stalled by boundary disagreements among the five states bordering the sea, which also include Russia, Iran and Kazakhstan.

Iran has insisted that each of the five coastal states get an equal portion of the seabed, while most other countries want the division based on shoreline, which would give Iran a smaller share.

Talks on the sea border come just days after Turkmenistan’s president said his country, which lies on the Caspian’s eastern shore, was prepared to provide natural gas for the planned Nabucco pipeline.

Russia, meanwhile, has objected to proposals to build trans-Caspian energy transportation routes, citing environmental concerns. Many experts believe, however, that Moscow is seeking to maintain its current lock over Central Asian gas exports to Europe, all of which are currently carried through pipelines in Russia.

Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan were until recently mired in a long-standing territorial dispute over claims to rich oil deposits located on the Caspian seabed. However, bilateral ties have been boosted since 2008 by shared interest in developing the trans-Caspian pipeline.

Early last year, Azerbaijani state-owned oil company SOCAR hired U.S. firm KBR to conduct a feasibility study for the pipeline route. No findings of the study have yet been announced.

Turkmenistan is the largest gas producer in the former Soviet Union after Russia, which has had a lock on most of the reclusive desert nation’s gas exports since the Soviet collapse in 1991. The EU and U.S. have been pressing for better access and for the construction of Nabucco, which carries an estimated cost of almost $8 billion.

Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has carefully opened up to courtship by the West — as well as by China — since he came to power after the death of longtime autocratic leader Saparmurat Niyazov in December 2006. While continuing to supply gas to Russia, he has expressed increasing interest in diversifying exports.

Last month, China signed a deal to buy 40 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year from Turkmenistan through a pipeline slated for completion this year.

At the weekend, Turkmenistan also said it has agreed to build a new pipeline to supply natural gas to Iran from a field previously reserved for deliveries to Russia. Turkmenistan said it planned to increase gas supplies to Iran to 14 billion cubic meters annually from 8 billion cubic meters currently by next year, the ministry said.

In addition to territorial issues, the talks that began Wednesday in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, between the two countries’ deputy foreign ministers are also expected to cover shipping, fishing and the environment, according to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry. Officials in Azerbaijan have made no comments.