Energy Sector - 2

[Naresh]

[center]<b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Paki Pipe Line Dreams remain Pipe Dreams!</span></b>[/center]

<b>Doubts over Turkmen pipeline</b>

ASHGABAT, Sept 5: Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov said Tuesday he saw no immediate prospect for a gas pipeline to the West and <b>cast doubt on another pipeline project across Afghanistan, saying that Russia and China were priority partners.

“Don’t ever think that Turkmenistan wants to put a squeeze on Russia and go in a different direction with its gas. We have a strategic agreement,” Niyazov said after talks with the chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom, Alexei Miller.

“We will first of all ensure the Russian route,” he said.</b>

Regarding plans nurtured by the United States to build a pipeline across the Caspian Sea to Western markets, Niyazov was downbeat, saying that territorial disputes over the Caspian would have to be resolved first.

<b>Niyazov also appeared pessimistic about plans for a pipeline from his natural gas-rich country across Afghanistan to Pakistan and India, a project also backed by Washington.

“We are in talks on the trans-Afghan pipeline. Its volume would be 30 billion cubic metres (annually) but the price hasn’t been established and importantly a consortium hasn’t been created,” he said.—AFP</b>

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