Romania lures Turkmenia into AGRI pipeline project

ASHKHABAD, May 13 (Itar-Tass) -- Romania lured Turkmenia into a gas
pipeline project which is to deliver natural gas from Azerbaijan to
Romania via the Black Sea.
A joint statement issued on Thursday in Bucharest by Romanian and
Turkmen Presidents, Traian Basescu and Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, noted
"the significance of Turkmen natural gas deliveries to Europe also by
priority projects for Romania - Nabucco and AGRI."
It is for the first time the Turkmen energy complex officially
included into its plans the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector
(AGRI) which is to transport Azerbaijani gas via pipelines to the Black
Sea coast of Georgia, where the gas will be liquefied at an LNG terminal
to be constructed at a location yet to be finalised, and then shipped to
the terminal in the Romanian port of Constanta by tankers. The LNG will
then be re-gasified and enter Romania's transmission system.
"The parties expressed support to diversification of energy supply
routes as a main precondition for ensuring energy security at the regional
and global levels," the statement said.
As for Nabucco, Basescu said the project is viable only in case
Turkmenia joins it. He said a political agreement between the Central
Asian nation and the European Union is necessary for that, as well as the
consortium that will build the pipeline.
"Before the consortium is created to pump gas from Turkmenia to
Azerbaijan it is necessary to sign a political document at the top level
to guarantee the natural gas will be in demand and bought," Basescu said
in Bucharest.
Russia, Iran, and China are current major buyers of Turkmen gas. The
country produced close to 47 billion cubic meters in 2010 and exported
over 22.5 billion. Turkmenistan aims to increase annual gas exports to 125
billion cubic meters by 2015.
The country also decided to build a gas pipeline to Afghanistan,
Pakistan, and India. The TAPI agreement was signed in December 2010.