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A Bad New Year’s Present For The Kremlin

Martin McCauley writes: It’s cold in Moscow. However, this winter will get even colder for the men in the Kremlin, who depend so much on the revenues from the sale of natural gas. The Chinese have stolen a march on them – again. On Monday, the first gas along the pipeline from Turkmenistan to Xinjiang in western China began to flow. There will be two pipelines. The second one is due to be built next year. To mark this momentous occasion Chinese President Hu Jintao (he dyes his hair jet black, by the way, just like all other members of the Chinese leadership), together with the presidents of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan (all of whom allegendly dye their hair black as well), celebrated with Chinese and local delicacies. As well they might. They had pulled off quite a coup.... 

Turkmen Gas For China Is Bad News For Russia. Very Bad News

Martin McCauley reports from the United States: An ostensible ‘accident’ damaged the main export gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Russia last April. Gazprom, the Russian state-owned  energy giant, has not imported any gas from Turkmenistan since then. The main reason is the fall in demand from EU countries for gas from Russia. During the first four months of this year, exports to the EU dropped by 40 per cent. This reduced Gazprom’s market share from 31 per cent to 16 per cent. Export revenues in 2009 are expected to plummet by 40 per cent. As a result Gazprom will cut its dividends by up to 85 per cent and its investment programme by 35 per cent. When EU demand was high, Gazprom relied on Turkmen gas to make up the shortfall in Russian produced gas. Now it does not need that... 

Good News For Europe: Gazprom Is Being Squeezed Out Of Turkmenistan

Martin McCauley writes: Last week in Ashgabat the German energy giant, RWE, signed an agreement with the government of Turkmenistan. It envisages the development of offshore gas reserves and providing gas deliveries. It has the potential to break Gazprom’s stranglehold on gas supplies coming from Turkmenistan. This is very good news for European consumers. The agreement is a boost for the European Union planned Southern Gas Corridor (which includes the Nabucco project) via Azerbaijan and Georgia and onward to Europe. RWE is a partner in the Nabucco consortium. The agreement provides for RWE and Turkmenistan to explore the feasibility of transporting Turkmen gas to Germany and the rest of Europe. A long term partnership is envisaged to transport Turkmen gas to the country’s borders... 

More Gas Discovered In Turkmenistan: A Good Omen For Europe

(By Martin McCauley.) Recently gas producers were giving away their gas free of charge. Why? Because there was excess supply and no demand. Unfortunately this state of affairs did not last for long although more good news for consumers comes from the faraway Turkmenistan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia. A British company that is involved in estimating Turkmen gas reserves announced last week that it has discovered a vast new gas field, the South Yoloten-Osman, containing up to 14 trillion cubic metres of gas. Even if it turns out that only half of this can be exploited, it still makes the field the fourth largest in the world. For comparison, one of Russia’s largest fields, Shtokman, in the Arctic North, contains ‘only’ 4 trillion cubic metres. The Turkmen gas can be... 

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