Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07ASHGABAT1302
2007-11-29 13:42:00
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
Embassy Ashgabat
Cable title:
UK ENERGY OFFICE PLANS STUDY TOUR FOR TURKMEN
how-toVZCZCXRO8878 PP RUEHAG RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHPW RUEHROV DE RUEHAH #1302 3331342 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 291342Z NOV 07 FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9803 INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 3058 RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0873 RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0747 RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 1323 RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 1962
C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 001302
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN AND EEB
STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTDA DAN STEIN
ENERGY FOR EKIMOFF/THOMPSON
COMMERCE FOR HUEPER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/29/2017
TAGS: EPET PREL TX UK
SUBJECT: UK ENERGY OFFICE PLANS STUDY TOUR FOR TURKMEN
OFFICIALS IN JANUARY
REF: ASHGABAT 1208
Classified By: Charge Sylvia Reed Curran for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).
C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 001302
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN AND EEB
STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTDA DAN STEIN
ENERGY FOR EKIMOFF/THOMPSON
COMMERCE FOR HUEPER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/29/2017
TAGS: EPET PREL TX UK
SUBJECT: UK ENERGY OFFICE PLANS STUDY TOUR FOR TURKMEN
OFFICIALS IN JANUARY
REF: ASHGABAT 1208
Classified By: Charge Sylvia Reed Curran for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).
1. (C) SUMMARY: The British government is moving forward
with plans to provide training to Turkmen officials in the
oil and gas industry in January. Foci will include energy
sector regulation, licensing, and the current Turkmen policy
of selling hydrocarbon product at the border. The U.K.
government's planned message seems to tally closely with our
own and hearing the same concerns expressed by other
interlocutors may help to bring home to Turkmenistan's
hydrocarbons officials just how much need there is to change
the way they do things. END SUMMARY.
2. (C) Richard Marriott of the British Department for
Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform's Energy Strategy
and International Unit provided a readout on November 28 to
the Charge of his recent meetings with Turkmenistan's energy
sector officials. Marriott confirmed that the one-week study
tour to the United Kingdom, agreed on in a bilateral
cooperation agreement signed in September (reftel) and
scheduled for January, would focus on energy sector
regulation and licensing, in order to show how companies
could engage in work in the eastern Caspian. Marriott's
office also plans to cover "lifting the lid on some of the
contradictions of selling hydrocarbon products at the border."
3. (C) Marriott said that his office is also organizing a
meeting in June for the State Agency, British hydrocarbon
companies, and, possibly, service companies. The number of
British private sector participants will be limited, in order
to make sure that the private sector participants stay on the
same page, communicating the same message. Marriott's office
envisages holding review meetings every September with the
State Agency, which would provide a regular meeting pattern
to retain engagement with Turkmen interlocutors and an
opportunity to revise the agreement, if necessary.
4. (SBU) COMMENT: Disappointed by the EU's slow efforts to
coordinate an energy policy, the U.K. has taken the lead in
trying to engage with energy officials here. In doing so,
U.K. officials have faced many of the same engagement
problems that post has faced, including conflicting messages
and the unwillingness of some within Turkmenistan's
hydrocarbons industry to change the way Turkmenistan does
things. That being said, we strongly support the U.K.'s
initiative, and believe that hearing messages that are
similar to those already raised by the United States can only
help to make our concerns sink in. END COMMENT.
CURRAN
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN AND EEB
STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTDA DAN STEIN
ENERGY FOR EKIMOFF/THOMPSON
COMMERCE FOR HUEPER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/29/2017
TAGS: EPET PREL TX UK
SUBJECT: UK ENERGY OFFICE PLANS STUDY TOUR FOR TURKMEN
OFFICIALS IN JANUARY
REF: ASHGABAT 1208
Classified By: Charge Sylvia Reed Curran for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).
1. (C) SUMMARY: The British government is moving forward
with plans to provide training to Turkmen officials in the
oil and gas industry in January. Foci will include energy
sector regulation, licensing, and the current Turkmen policy
of selling hydrocarbon product at the border. The U.K.
government's planned message seems to tally closely with our
own and hearing the same concerns expressed by other
interlocutors may help to bring home to Turkmenistan's
hydrocarbons officials just how much need there is to change
the way they do things. END SUMMARY.
2. (C) Richard Marriott of the British Department for
Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform's Energy Strategy
and International Unit provided a readout on November 28 to
the Charge of his recent meetings with Turkmenistan's energy
sector officials. Marriott confirmed that the one-week study
tour to the United Kingdom, agreed on in a bilateral
cooperation agreement signed in September (reftel) and
scheduled for January, would focus on energy sector
regulation and licensing, in order to show how companies
could engage in work in the eastern Caspian. Marriott's
office also plans to cover "lifting the lid on some of the
contradictions of selling hydrocarbon products at the border."
3. (C) Marriott said that his office is also organizing a
meeting in June for the State Agency, British hydrocarbon
companies, and, possibly, service companies. The number of
British private sector participants will be limited, in order
to make sure that the private sector participants stay on the
same page, communicating the same message. Marriott's office
envisages holding review meetings every September with the
State Agency, which would provide a regular meeting pattern
to retain engagement with Turkmen interlocutors and an
opportunity to revise the agreement, if necessary.
4. (SBU) COMMENT: Disappointed by the EU's slow efforts to
coordinate an energy policy, the U.K. has taken the lead in
trying to engage with energy officials here. In doing so,
U.K. officials have faced many of the same engagement
problems that post has faced, including conflicting messages
and the unwillingness of some within Turkmenistan's
hydrocarbons industry to change the way Turkmenistan does
things. That being said, we strongly support the U.K.'s
initiative, and believe that hearing messages that are
similar to those already raised by the United States can only
help to make our concerns sink in. END COMMENT.
CURRAN