The energy security of NATO members in Europe will receive a further boost as the European Union has opened a new Delegation in Turkmenistan. This Delegation supersedes the lower-level liaison office through which relations had been conducted up until now. The move follows the European Council’s adoption of a new “EU Strategy for Central Asia,” […]
Energy sector reform is moving quickly in Uzbekistan, and foreign direct investment (FDI) is skyrocketing. The country did not have an energy ministry until February of this year. Instead, the energy sector was in the portfolio of one of eight deputy prime ministers, who also covered metallurgy and geology. This excessive concentration of responsibilities was […]
Following President Donald Trump’s Nowruz (New Year’s) message to Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov stating that the United States Government looks forward to seeing the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TCGP) built, the atmosphere has been changing in Washington in favor of the project. Twenty years ago, when the project was first being discussed, the American negotiators made […]
Momentum accelerated over the past month pointing towards the implementation, sooner rather than later, of the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TCGP). Already last summer the signature of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea established that neither Russia nor Iran would be able to block the construction of the pipeline. This even confirms […]
Diplomatic momentum is gaining on all fronts in favor of the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TCGP) between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. Both Russian and American diplomats tacitly agree that this is a positive development. Thus last week the new U.S. Ambassador to Georgia (and former Ambassador to Azerbaijan) Ross Wilson publicly stated that “transport projects implemented jointly […]
This article is an end-of-year review looking at the EU’s and Turkey’s position in three potential maritime conflict situations: first, the Caspian Sea basin; and then the Black Sea and East Mediterranean basins together. The most significant development in Caspian Sea energy in 2018 was the signature of the Convention on the Status of the […]
Attempts to commercialize the East Mediterranean natural gas province continue still with difficulty. The gas deposits in the Cyprus offshore continue to be at the centre of attention, while those of Israel and Egypt are set in relation to those. The issue that preoccupies observers is how to market the gas from Cyprus in Europe. […]
The authoritative text of the Convention on the Status of the Caspian Sea (Caspian Convention), signed August 12 in Aktau, Kazakhstan, is now available. After 23 years of negotiations, skepticism seems to be an influential trend in interpreting the Convention’s significance. It is easier for an expert to say, “Oh I didn’t expect such progress,” […]
After more than 20 years of negotiation, and despite all the skepticism, there is every indication that five-party the Convention on the Status of the Caspian Sea will be signed in Aktau, Kazakhstan, on August 12. In fact, it was clear last December that it would be signed soon enough, when the Russian foreign minister […]
European energy security policy reached a milestone in early June when the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP, after its Turkish initials) was opened. As the name indicates, the pipeline runs east-west across Turkey (1,850 kilometres) from the Georgian to the Greek border. It will carry, in the first instance, natural gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah […]