Today the Minister of Energy of Russia, Alexander Novak, and the Minister of Oil and Natural Resources of Pakistan, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, have signed the intergovernmental agreement on construction of a gas pipeline (length – 1100 km; capacity – 12.4 billion cubic meters annually) which would connect terminals for receiving liquid gas at Port Karachi in the south of Pakistan with the city of Lahor in the north of the country. The project will be implemented by the RT-Global Resources Company, which belongs to the Rostech State Corporation. The gas pipeline will be owned and used by the engineering company for 25 years, and then it will be handed over to the government of Pakistan. The Ministry of Energy says that the project will open a new market for Russian companies and opportunities for implementation of new projects in the sphere of energy infrastructure of Pakistan, provide Russian industrial enterprises with orders, and enable to increase volumes of the non-energy exports of Russia.
At the same time, Russia intends to implement serious energy projects in Turkey. Anatoly Yanovsky, Deputy Minister of Energy, recalled that the first intergovernmental agreement with Turkey, which was dedicated to organization of gas supplies to Turkey through the Trans-Balkan Corridor, was signed in 1984. The supplies began in 1987. Several years later, considering demands of the Turkish economy in additional volumes of gas, another intergovernmental agreement on construction of the Blue Stream Gas Pipeline was signed. At the moment, gas is exported to Turkey through these two pipelines.
“At the moment, the issue of construction of another pipeline is being discussed – the Turkish Stream. A draft of the corresponding intergovernmental agreement was presented to the Turkish side. We expect that consultations on the agreement will take place in the very near future. The project will provide Turkey with additional volumes of gas and organize gas transit through its territory.”
The Deputy Minister notes that cooperation with Turkey is not limited to the gas sphere. It also covers the oil, electric power and nuclear power spheres.
Yanovsky told Vestnik Kavkaza that the Ministry of Energy has mutually beneficial working relations with Azerbaijan: “Azerbaijan has recently hosted a meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission. It was headed by Mr Rogozin on the Russian side. We reported on the results of our cooperation that covers the gas, oil and electricity spheres. In particular, not so long ago, at the request and on the proposal of the Azerbaijani side, a new contract was awarded to supply gas to Azerbaijan amounting to 2 billion cubic meters for methane production. Our companies are actively working in Azerbaijan on the oil market. Approximately 10% of the market petroleum products are sold through the service stations of the Lukoil. We have signed an intergovernmental agreement in the electricity sphere, according to which our energy systems work in parallel, there is a mutual flow of energy from Russia to Azerbaijan, from Azerbaijan to Russia, which provides the reliability of our power systems.”
The Ministry of Energy has also developed similar cooperation with Armenia. “Quite large assets in Armenia belong to Russian companies. This also applies to the company ‘ArmRosGazprom’, which is 100% owned by Gazprom, which owns the gas transmission system that guarantees the supply of gas to all consumers on the territory of Armenia. In addition, you know what happened a few months ago, the situation when there were some mass rallies in Armenia that were connected with the decision by the Armenian government to raise electricity tariffs. This directly affects our interests, because the electric grid organization in Armenia belongs to our company RAO ‘UES’. In favor of the agreements that have been achieved with our Armenian colleagues, we had announced a tender for the audit activity, on one hand, for the body that regulates tariffs in Armenia, on the other hand, for the company itself, to find out whether its decisions were proved. As far as I remember now. As far as I know, now, these studies are still being carried out. They are not finished yet – when they are finished, the results will be presented, first of all, to the Armenian government,” Yanovsky said.
