Pipeliners

03-19-2009 - Upstream OnLine - A French government minister has called on Turkmenistan to join the planned Nabucco pipeline that would deliver gas from Central Asia and bypass Russia. Foreign Trade Minister Anne-Marie Idrac, on a visit to the Central Asian state, told reporters late last night she had discussed the issue with the Turkmen government. "Of course, as a gas consumer, France is interested in seeing a new westward route for Turkmen gas some day," Idrac told Reuters through an interpreter. "France is contributing a lot to forming a positive opinion on this project among the Europeans." Shoring up the reliability of European Union energy supplies has topped the bloc's agenda since a row between Moscow and Ukraine in January halted Russian gas flows to eastern Europe in the depths of winter. To curb its reliance on Russian gas, the EU is backing the 3300 kilometre Nabucco pipeline from Central Asia to Austria, though analysts said the project has so far secured only a fifth of the gas needed to break even. Turkmenistan, Central Asia's largest gas producer, has said before it was interested in Nabucco, but is at the same time pressing ahead with a new pipeline to Russia which currently buys most of its gas - about 50 billion cubic metres a year.