Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan are arranging principles of the implementation of a Caspian gas pipeline project. With that aim in view, the leaders of the Turkmen Turkmengas state concern, the Russian Gazprom gas giant and the Kazakh KazMunaiGaz company met recently for the first session of the three party coordinating committee for promoting the gas pipeline project and updating the existing interstate gas transportation networks. The leaders of three former Soviet republics signed a joint declaration on the construction of a Caspian gas pipeline, as well as a joint declaration on the development of gas transportation networks in Central Asia. Uzbekistan also joined the second declaration. In December 2007, an intergovernmental agreement was signed in Moscow, supported by the feasibility study of the project. The reconstruction of the existing pipeline and the construction of a new one will make it possible to bring the capacity of the gas transportation system to 20 billion cum of natural gas a year. Like the existing pipeline, the new one will run along the Caspian coast. The Turkmen section will be about 290km long.
