On October 28, Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement strongly contradicting the Russian government’s views on the bilateral gas trade and on Turkmen gas export policy in general. The statement follows six days after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and a governmental delegation held... MORE

Turkmen President, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s, September 16 statement, explicitly linking the Turkmen East-West gas pipeline with the European Union-backed Nabucco project (EDM, September 17), is not only a boost for Nabucco, but also a blow to Gazprom’s rival project South Stream. As Moscow analysts recognize, Berdimuhamedov’s... MORE

On September 14 in Baku, the heads of state endorsed the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector (AGRI), a project to import natural gas from Azerbaijan to Romania and onward to Hungary. The project involves the liquefaction of gas for shipment by tankers across the Black Sea from Georgia... MORE

Russia’s Gazprom has proposed to the German RWE company to join Gazprom’s South Stream pipeline project. According to German business press reports, Gazprom Vice-President, Aleksandr Medvedev, has approached senior RWE management with this proposal. RWE, however, is a stakeholder in the EU-backed Nabucco project. Gazprom’s... MORE

Since Turkmenistan’s independence in 1991, the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan (Turkmenistanyn Demokratik Partiyasy) and its corresponding Revival (Galkynysh) political movement have been the country’s only officially-registered political entities. Now, after three years in power, it appears that President, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, may at last be interested... MORE

The start of construction on the East-West Turkmen pipeline (Turkmenistan Starts Construction of East-West Pipeline, EDM June 8) marks the third phase of Turkmenistan’s gas export diversification strategy. In just three years, Turkmenistan has ended Moscow’s 50-year old monopsony, working instead with China and Iran... MORE

Construction work began on May 31 on Turkmenistan’s East-West pipeline. The line is projected to run from the main gas fields in the country’s east, to the Turkmen Caspian shore in the west. When completed, the East-West pipeline would deliver gas volumes for export to... MORE

Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has approved a program to create naval forces under the jurisdiction of the defense ministry, and will be deployed at the Turkmenbashi Caspian Sea port by 2015. The approval was announced at a meeting of the National Security Committee on January... MORE

Moscow has moved to revive its gas partnership with Turkmenistan and started unprecedented gas imports from Azerbaijan. However, Russia now faces Iranian competition in its gas dealings with both Caspian nations. This month, Russia’s gas giant Gazprom restarts gas imports from Turkmenistan. On December 31,... MORE