Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ASHGABAT194
2009-02-06 13:10:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Ashgabat
Cable title:
TURKMENISTAN: ENERGY OFFICIALS LEAVE US GUESSING
how-toVZCZCXRO4861 PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNEH RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG DE RUEHAH #0194 0371310 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 061310Z FEB 09 FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2280 INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 4806 RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 2589 RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 2454 RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL PRIORITY 3050 RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC PRIORITY RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
UNCLAS ASHGABAT 000194
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
SCA/CEN; EEB
PLEASE PASS TO USTDA DAN STEIN
ENERGY FOR EKIMOFF/THOMPSON
COMMERCE FOR HUEPER
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV EINV EPET TX AF IN PK
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: ENERGY OFFICIALS LEAVE US GUESSING
ON THE STATUS OF TAPI TALKS
UNCLAS ASHGABAT 000194
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
SCA/CEN; EEB
PLEASE PASS TO USTDA DAN STEIN
ENERGY FOR EKIMOFF/THOMPSON
COMMERCE FOR HUEPER
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV EINV EPET TX AF IN PK
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: ENERGY OFFICIALS LEAVE US GUESSING
ON THE STATUS OF TAPI TALKS
1. (SBU) Poloff met on February 5 with Deputy Minister for
Oil and Gas Industry and Mineral Resources Nedirov and
officials from the Turkmen State Gas Concern to discuss the
status of talks and agreements on development of a
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline.
Turkmen officials confirmed that no multi-lateral meetings
have taken place since September 2008, and did not know when
the parties would meet again. Nedirov, who initially said
the agreement was with the Cabinet of Ministers, then changed
his answer and said his ministry and Turkmengaz are still
reviewing the Heads of Agreement, which contains changes that
include India's formal participation in the project. He
expressed optimism that the agreement would be approved at
the ministerial level and be passed to the Cabinet of
Ministers "soon".
2. (SBU) He said the sales and purchase agreement is also
still under review in his Ministry, and would offer no
timeline regarding when the document might move forward. He
said the gas and pricing agreement had two parts--a
multi-party element that provided a general purchasing
framework, and a second element providing for Turkmenistan to
negotiate pricing bilaterally with each of the other parties.
He did not identify which portions of the agreement needed
work.
3. (SBU) COMMENT: Nedirov and the unidentified Turkmengaz
officials did not seem to be on the same sheet of music
throughout the meeting, and all of them appeared to be
nonplussed by the arrangement by the MFA of this meeting with
one Embassy officer. The MFA may have told them very little
regarding the who and what of post's request for a meeting.
In the course of the meeting, Nedirov seemed uninformed and
often confused, and frequently entered into discussion with
the others in Turkmen, either seeking to confirm, clarify, or
correct his own information. He seemed to be unaware of the
status and present location of the documents that were
central to the purpose of the meeting, and was reluctant to
reveal what issues or concerns were at the center of the
apparent decision to put the documents into extended review.
He was wholly unwilling to comment in any way on issues or
questions related to any of the other TAPI partners, which
made it impossible to discern what specific issues were
holding up the process. Given Nedirov's performance at this
meeting, it appears the Turkmen government is not focusing at
all on helping this process move forward, and its inability
to work through the concern it has about the agreements in
the past four months makes it difficult to guess when the
next working group meeting, or any progress in general, will
take place. END COMMENT.
MILES
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
SCA/CEN; EEB
PLEASE PASS TO USTDA DAN STEIN
ENERGY FOR EKIMOFF/THOMPSON
COMMERCE FOR HUEPER
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV EINV EPET TX AF IN PK
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: ENERGY OFFICIALS LEAVE US GUESSING
ON THE STATUS OF TAPI TALKS
1. (SBU) Poloff met on February 5 with Deputy Minister for
Oil and Gas Industry and Mineral Resources Nedirov and
officials from the Turkmen State Gas Concern to discuss the
status of talks and agreements on development of a
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline.
Turkmen officials confirmed that no multi-lateral meetings
have taken place since September 2008, and did not know when
the parties would meet again. Nedirov, who initially said
the agreement was with the Cabinet of Ministers, then changed
his answer and said his ministry and Turkmengaz are still
reviewing the Heads of Agreement, which contains changes that
include India's formal participation in the project. He
expressed optimism that the agreement would be approved at
the ministerial level and be passed to the Cabinet of
Ministers "soon".
2. (SBU) He said the sales and purchase agreement is also
still under review in his Ministry, and would offer no
timeline regarding when the document might move forward. He
said the gas and pricing agreement had two parts--a
multi-party element that provided a general purchasing
framework, and a second element providing for Turkmenistan to
negotiate pricing bilaterally with each of the other parties.
He did not identify which portions of the agreement needed
work.
3. (SBU) COMMENT: Nedirov and the unidentified Turkmengaz
officials did not seem to be on the same sheet of music
throughout the meeting, and all of them appeared to be
nonplussed by the arrangement by the MFA of this meeting with
one Embassy officer. The MFA may have told them very little
regarding the who and what of post's request for a meeting.
In the course of the meeting, Nedirov seemed uninformed and
often confused, and frequently entered into discussion with
the others in Turkmen, either seeking to confirm, clarify, or
correct his own information. He seemed to be unaware of the
status and present location of the documents that were
central to the purpose of the meeting, and was reluctant to
reveal what issues or concerns were at the center of the
apparent decision to put the documents into extended review.
He was wholly unwilling to comment in any way on issues or
questions related to any of the other TAPI partners, which
made it impossible to discern what specific issues were
holding up the process. Given Nedirov's performance at this
meeting, it appears the Turkmen government is not focusing at
all on helping this process move forward, and its inability
to work through the concern it has about the agreements in
the past four months makes it difficult to guess when the
next working group meeting, or any progress in general, will
take place. END COMMENT.
MILES