Russian gas deal dashes EU hopes

Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan have signed a landmark deal to build a gas pipeline.

The pipeline will strengthen Moscow’s control over Central Asian energy export routes, analysts said.

It also deals a blow to European Union hopes of securing alternative routes that would bypass Russia.

The pipeline will skirt the Caspian Sea from Turkmenistan to southern Russia via Kazakhstan and will be built by the end of 2010.

The trilateral agreement was signed in Moscow in the presence of President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan.

The agreement will likely disappoint the US and the EU, which have been lobbying for a rival pipeline to be built under the Caspian Sea, analysts said.

They had hoped to pipe Turkmen gas across the Caspian Sea via Turkey, in order to reduce the EU’s dependence on Russian-controlled energy.

The EU relies on Russia for about a quarter of its gas consumption.

Prospects for pipelines under the Caspian have been clouded by high costs, environmental concerns and disputes over ownership of the sea resources.

BBC