Russia currently supplies around a third of Europe’s gas needs, but Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and its involvement in the military conflict in eastern Ukraine means the EU is searching for gas from alternative sources, according to Reuters.
“We have good mutual understanding. For Turkmenistan it is very important to diversify its export options, while for the EU it is very important to diversify its imports,” Mr Sefcovic told Reuters in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat.
“Europe expects supplies of Turkmen gas to begin by 2019,” he reportedly said.
Turkmenistan has the world’s fourth-largest reserves of natural gas. Reuters reports that Russia which will cut its imports to 4 Bcm this year, from 11 Bcm in 2014.
Mr Sefcovic recently met with Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz, Azerbaijan’s Energy Minister Natiq Aliyev, Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister Baymurad Hojamukhamedov and Yagshygeldy Kakayev, who heads Turkmenistan’s hydrocarbon resources agency.
“In this format we discussed all aspects referring to the trans-Caspian pipeline,” Mr Sefcovic is reported as saying. “We made a big step in the strategic direction.”
The project, designed to bring Turkmen gas to Europe across the Caspian Sea via the so-called “southern gas corridor”, which includes Azerbaijan and Turkey, has been stuck for years due to political, ecological and financial uncertainties.
Last year, Turkmenistan and Turkey signed a framework agreement to supply gas to the proposed Trans-Anatolian natural gas pipeline project (TANAP), which will take gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz II field in the Caspian Sea.
To connect to TANAP, Turkmenistan needs to build its own, 300 km link under the Caspian Sea, a disputed area between Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and Azerbaijan.
TANAP will be built from the Turkish-Georgian border to Turkey’s frontier with Bulgaria and Greece. Its construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2018 in order to start deliveries of gas from Shah Deniz II in 2019.
“Between 2019 and 2020 all these pipelines from Azerbaijan to the borders of Europe – in the direction of Greece, Albania and Italy must be built,” Mr Sefcovic said, according to Reuters.
“It’s everyone’s expectation that Turkmenistan and Turkmen gas will be a very important part of this cooperation.”