East-West Gas Pipeline officially opens in Turkmenistan

The East-West Gas Pipeline used to deliver gas from Turkmenistan through Georgia has officially opened today.

Georgia’s Economy Minister Dimitry Kumishvili attended the East-West Gas Pipeline commissioning ceremony in Turkmenistan.

The ceremony was also attended by Energy Ministers from Turkey, Bulgaria and Ukraine as well as high officials from the Energy Ministries of Romania and Russia. Heads of large corporations operating in the gas sector also attended today’s ceremony.

The East-West Gas Pipeline runs from the Shatlyk gas compressor station in Mary province, where Turkmenistan’s largest gas fields Galkynysh and Dovletabad are located, to Europe via the Belek gas compressor station in the western Balkan province.

Earlier it was announced the European Union (EU) expected to receive gas from Turkmenistan by 2019.

The 800km-long pipeline will have an annual capacity of 33 billion cubic meters of gas.

Georgia completed building and rehabilitating its section of the East-West Gas Pipeline in March this year.

The project was financed by United States Agency for International Development (USAID), who allocated $62 million USD for the project back in 2010.

Georgia’s Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze said the rehabilitation and expansion project of the pipeline supported the development of Georgia’s safe energy infrastructure. As well as being a transit nation, Georgia will also be able to access some of the gas being transported from Turkmenistan to XX. In March Kaladze said the project was particularly beneficial for residents in western Georgia as it will provide the region with a stable gas supply.

The new pipeline will also increase the capacity of transported gas.

Within the framework of the East-West Gas Pipeline Rehabilitation project, a 150km section of the pipeline was upgraded and a number of sections were also renewed. These were the Senaki-Poti, Abasha-Senaki, Kutaisi-Abasha, Zestaponi-Kutaisi and Gori-Kareli sections.