'Caspian Sea turns into one of largest centres of hydrocarbon output'

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who is on a working visit to Brazil made a speech at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio +20, Turkmen media said on Friday.

According to the information, the Turkmen leader touched upon the ecology of the Caspian Sea, which washes the shores of Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran and Turkmenistan.

"As a unique natural complex, the Caspian Sea belongs to all mankind and therefore requires the special attention of the international community," Turkmen Dovlet Khabarlary state news service said.

The Caspian Sea region is rapidly becoming one of the world's largest centres of production and transportation of hydrocarbons, he said.

Official Ashgabat said that the common objective is to combine the objective economic interests, the realities of international cooperation in the energy sector with the need to preserve the biodiversity of the Caspian Sea, to prevent violations of the fragile ecological balance. In this regard, the Turkmen government expects for the UN support.
"Today serious expert assessment, continuous monitoring of the situation which would serve as a basis for making appropriate political and legal decisions, are required, rather than just declarations," the Turkmen president said, Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper reported.

The Global Forum in Rio de Janeiro, organised as a result of the decision of the UN General Assembly adopted in 2009, brought together more than 100 presidents and heads of governments, as well as state figures, parliamentarians, representatives of business circles and civilians in many countries.

The main item on the agenda is the topic of creating the conditions for global sustainable development and issues of environmental protection and ecological safety are one of the key criteria.

The Turkmen President said that Turkmenistan attaches great importance to developing the energy sector fully realising the responsibility which rests on the country as a major producer and international exporter of hydrocarbon resources.

"So, environmental safety for us is the key issue," the Turkmen president said, national TV channel Altyn Asyr reported. "We are convinced that the development of the energy infrastructure must not damage ecology."

This approach determines the position of the Caspian country which stipulates the need to search for an international consensus on energy security, where the environmental aspect would be the main one.

In this context, the Turkmen leader put forward the proposal to establish a new mechanism - the interregional energy dialogue under UN auspices.

Turkmenistan ranks fourth on the largest natural gas reserves in the world, after Russia, Iran and Qatar. Laying a gas pipeline through the Caspian Sea bed and via Azerbaijan looks attractive for supplying to Europe. The Turkmen side has repeatedly expressed its readiness to conduct an appropriate environmental review to implement this project.

In particular, it was reported that Ashgabat outlined plans for this year to intensify negotiations with neighbouring countries in the Caspian region.

The matter rests in the issues relating to the promotion and implementation of international initiatives on the Caspian Sea put forward by Turkmenistan. These proposals are aimed at conservation, augmentation and rational use of biological resources of this unique natural reservoir, ensuring its environmental safety and developing constructive regional cooperation.

Several international events, including an environmental forum on the Caspian Sea are planned.

As it is known, the traditional way for Turkmen gas to Europe stretched through the Russian pipeline communications. Gazprom Company bought Central Asian gas at a discounted price to resell it to Europe as it has no alternative of transit for a long time.

However after the global recession began, these purchases have significantly decreased from an annual 40-50 billion per year to 10 billion cubic meters.

Ashgabat has recently stressed at a high level the importance of Turkmen natural gas supplies to Europe, including Nabucco and AGRI which are a priority for Romania. These major projects for the near term prospects, focus on gas supplies from Azerbaijan, claiming to be the major transit country of hydrocarbon resources from Central Asia in the long term prospect. Turkmenistan may become the main source of raw materials in the medium to long term prospect.


/Trend/