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 Read More…
Author: Robert M. Cutler
Momentum Accelerates for the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline
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 Read More…
Russia Promotes Caspian Economic Cooperation
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 Read More…
The Southern Gas Corridor in 2018 and Prospects for 2019
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 Read More…
Recent Developments in Cyprus Energy
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. Read More…
The Caspian Convention and Caspian Energy
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,” Read More…
The Caspian Sea Will be Divided
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 Read More…
Europe Looks to Turkmenistan to Expand Southern Gas Corridor
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 Read More…
Turkey’s Place in Euro-Caspian Energy Development
Two extremely important events for Turkey’s energy policy took place within days of each other at the end of May and in early June. The first was the formal opening of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC). The second was the order, by Dutch courts, that Gazprom’s assets in The Netherlands should be frozen. That court Read More…