Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has made his most forthright statement yet regarding the prospects for his country's participation in the Western-backed Nabucco pipeline, designed to skirt Russia in delivering Turkmen gas to foreign markets.
After a speech September 17 at a summit of heads of states of Turkic countries in Istanbul, President Berdymukhamedov took questions from reporters. In response to a query about the prospects of Turkmenistan delivering gas to Europe, the Turkmen leader was reported by both domestic and foreign news services as saying:
"Turkmenistan does not doubt the real prospect of implementing various projects to export gas in any direction, including to Europe through Nabucco,"
Yet his statements have been reported somewhat differently at home and abroad, and analysts have speculated whether the pro-Nabucco remarks were just a bargaining ploy both to get Russia to pay more for Turkmen gas and to raise Ashgabat's stature in the region. They may have also been designed as a sweetener in anticipation of the Turkmen president's meeting with Chevron's CEO Jay Pryor.
In various accounts provided by international, Azeri, and industry online news services, President Berdymukhamedov is further quoted as saying:
We are currently constructing the East-West pipeline. The pipeline will be laid along the coast of the Caspian Sea. There is also Nabucco, which is associated with the project. We are building an East-West pipeline that will reach the Caspian. Nabucco is about this.