Domestic

Domestic

US tries to shore up energy plans in Turkmenistan

02 June 2007 09:54 (UTC +04:00)

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Steven Mann said Washington’s plan for a gas pipeline across the Caspian Sea still had Berdymukhammedov’s support, even after the Turkmen leader in May approved a rival plan backed by Moscow.
"The US strongly supports a trans-Caspian pipeline. President Berdymukhammedov wants to see pipelines in many different directions, including trans-Caspian," Mann said after the talks.
"A trans-Caspian pipeline probably will be the most profitable route for the export of Turkmen gas, and it will offer the most commercial stability."
Washington has been pushing new routes to export gas from the energy-rich Central Asian country that avoid Russia.
Moscow’s leverage over Turkmen resources was boosted in May by an agreement to build a new pipeline along the Caspian shore from Turkmenistan to Russia starting in 2008.
Mann reiterated that the US is against all pipelines to pass through Iran.
Steven Mann was US Ambassador to Turkmenistan in 1998-2001. /APA/