TURKMENISTAN: NABUCCO TALKS "JOGGING IN PLACE" - OPPOSITION WEBSITE

* username: rupertbu

Rumors have swirled in Western capitals of late that Turkmenistan is on the verge of committing a specific amount of natural gas to a Western-backed, trans-Caspian export route. But a source within the Turkmen government is telling an opposition website that such talk is nothing more than a pipe dream.

The rumors about Turkmenistan’s readiness to supply the proposed trans-Caspian and Nabucco pipelines began after the German energy concern RWE recently announced that it was engaging in "intensive" negotiations with Ashgabat. The German firm -- which is a member of the Nabucco consortium, and which has extensive economic interests in Turkmenistan -- said it hoped to have a supply agreement signed by mid-year.
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A source in the Turkmen Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources told the opposition website Chrono-tm.org, however, that Western officials and energy executives should not get their hopes up about an energy-export breakthrough. Turkmenistan has long expressed an interest in exporting gas via the planned trans-Caspian/Nabucco route, but has always refrained from making any specific commitment. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].