Ukraine to Invest EUR 790 Million in Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline Project

By Joel ScanlonApr 10 2012

Ukraine will provide an investment of EUR 790 million in a trans-Caspian gas pipeline project which will go through Georgia and Azerbaijan. The investment will be made by Ukraine only if an offshoot of the oil port of Kulevi in Georgia is built in the Black Sea.

This was decided in a meeting held between Ilham Aliyevthe, President of Azerbaijan and Mykola Azarov, Prime Minister of Ukraine. However, the transaction will take place only if all the parties involved are in agreement with the arrangement. Kyiv intends to deliver the liquefied natural gas from Kulevi to a LNG terminal Yuzhny located in south Ukraine.

The production capacity of the EUR 7.9 billion trans-Caspian project is estimated at 30 billion m³/annum. This project will also facilitate the transfer of gas from Turkmenistan to Nabucco, which is an alternative pipeline to the Russian South Stream. Initially Russia objected to the gas pipeline project contending that the Caspian littoral states could not build a gas pipeline without deciding on the legal status of the Caspian Seabed. However in the meantime the EUR 846 million Yuzhny project was handed over to foreign investors. The terminal is likely to have a capacity of 10 billion m³/annum with prospects of additional capacity. The construction of this terminal is likely to be completed in 49 months.