Italian energy giant Eni has offered to assist Turkmenistan, Central Asia''s largest gas producer, in shipping its output to India and Pakistan, a Turkmen government source told Reuters on Wednesday. The most direct route to transport gas from Turkmenistan to the huge markets of Pakistan and India is by pipeline across Afghanistan, an idea mooted since the 1990s, but incessant insecurity there has always scuppered each successive plan.
Eni Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni visited Turkmenistan on Wednesday and met Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. "Eni has plans to create infrastructure to ship gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India and is offering help in developing (Turkmen) hydrocarbon reserves," said a government official who asked not to be named.
The official also declined to elaborate on what sort of infrastructure he was referring to. Scaroni said last month ENI was looking to bring gas from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Iran to Pakistan, India and China, but stressed it was a long-term idea.
Turkmenistan has stepped up efforts to diversify gas exports this year after Russia, traditionally the main consumer, halted purchases amidst a pricing dispute. The former Soviet republic, which produces about 75 billion cubic metres of gas a year, will launch new pipelines to China and Iran in December and is also considering joining the EU-sponsored Nabucco pipeline that would bypass Russia. Russia''s Gazprom, a close partner of Eni, has criticised Nabucco as nonviable and politically-driven.