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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (55871)	10/5/2009 6:37:22 PM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 217671

Turkmens, Azerbaijan to Talk on Caspian Border Turkmenistan is set to resume negotiations with Azerbaijan over a disputed sector of the energy-rich Caspian Sea, Turkmenistan's leader said Thursday in a statement that could encourage Western hopes of gaining access to the region's vast oil and gas reserves. Speaking at his first news conference with foreign media since coming to power in 2007, President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov hinted at the possible end to a long-standing territorial dispute that has blocked construction of Europe-bound energy pipelines from Central Asia. Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan began talks aimed at agreeing on ownership of subsea energy resources in July, but those negotiations collapsed in acrimony weeks later as the Turkmens threatened to take the dispute to the International Court of Arbitration. Berdymukhamedov added, however, that his nation will go to court in case of an impasse. "We will continue to conduct diplomatic dialogue. But if the parties fail to reach some compromise, then we will seek arbitration," he told reporters. The main point of contention between the two countries relates to a disputed oil field in the central area of the Caspian Sea shelf, where Azerbaijan already has begun developing a disputed oil field. "Until the zones of jurisdiction have been set down by law, any developments in the disputed territory will be illegal," Berdymukhamedov said. The success of the Nabucco pipeline, which Western countries hope will act as a major energy route from eastern Turkey to the lucrative European market - depends largely on its ability to tap into the Caspian region's vast gas resources. A subsea pipeline under the Caspian linking Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan on an opposite shore would be a massive boost to Nabucco, but it faces stiff opposition from Russia, which wants to maintain its monopoly on the supply of Central Asian gas to Europe. Turkmenistan is the largest gas producer in the former Soviet Union after Russia, which has had a lock on most of the reclusive desert nation's gas exports since the Soviet collapse in 1991. The EU and U.S. have been pressing for better access and for the construction of Nabucco, at an estimated cost of almost $8 billion. Berdymukhamedov has carefully opened up to courtship by the West - as well as by China - since he came to power after the death of longtime autocratic leader Saparmurat Niyazov in December 2006. Berdymukhamedov met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during a visit to America last month, when they discussed options for boosting the presence of U.S. companies in the Central Asian nation's burgeoning energy sector. Source: Forbes