Turkmenistan: East-West Tender Winner will be Revealed in June

Turkmenistan will announce the winner of the East-West gas spur tender on June 29. The tender was launched in March after President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov refused to give Gazprom exclusive rights to the project, the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported June 1.

Prior to a disastrous meeting in Moscow between the Turkmen president and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on March 24-26, the Kremlin-controlled energy giant had considered the construction of the 800-1000-kilometer spur to be in the bag. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Matters deteriorated further when an explosion on the Davletbat-Dariyalyk pipeline, also known as the CAC-4, on April 9 halted Turkmen gas exports to Russia and ignited a diplomatic stand-off that has yet to be resolved. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

More than 70 Russian, European and Chinese companies are now vying for the East-West contract, according to the Turkmen state news agency. But Kommersant claims that no Russian companies are in the competition and that only one, Stroytransgaz, went so far as to get the application documents.

The East-West gas spur is designed to link up with the Prikaspiiski pipeline, a key Gazprom controlled gas artery. However, if Ashgabat has its way, the spur could be used to divert gas westwards to Europe.