Turkmenistan will be supplying natural gas for the EU-sponsored Nabucco transit pipeline, the country's President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has promised.

A gas pipeline under construction will connect Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan through the Caspian Sea, enabling the Central Asian republic to become a supplier for Nabucco, Berdimuhamedov declared late Thursday after the 10th Summit of Heads of Turkic-speaking countries.

The pipe in question is the much anticipated so called Trans-Caspian gas pipeline.

Turkmenistan's President not only suggested support for Nabucco but also hinted that his country's backing of the EU project would weaken the Russian-Italian-French project for the South Stream gas transit pipeline rendering it "superfluous", as cited by DPA.

Analysts have been quoted as saying Berdimuhamedov's remarks were intended to put pressure on Moscow to buy more natural gas from Turkmenistan.

The Trans-Caspian pipeline has been viewed with scepticism as it has been stalled for years because the countries bordering the Caspian Sea - Russia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Iran - have long been unable to agree on the demarcation of the inland sea.

"All Caspian states are interested in revitalization of joint work in this area. It is Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan who now demonstrate the most constructive attitude to intensification of friendly and mutually beneficial relations. Our countries do not have any open issues. The leadership of both countries has the political will and desire to solve any problem on mutually agreeable terms," he said as quoted by news site turkmenistan.ru.

Berdimuhamedov emphasized the fact that international auditors from the Gaffney Cline company have proven Turkmenistan's enormous energy reserves back in 2008 in the South Yolotan-Osman and Yashlar gas fields.

The first deposit is said to harbor 18 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, and the first step for extraction was made in 2009 with the singing of contracts with private companies worth USD 10 B, said the Turkmenistan President, as cited by ITAR-TASS.

In his words, the Central Asian country currently has 45.44 billion tons of petrol equivalent, and 24.6 trillion cubic meters of gas. By 2030, it plans to extract 230 billion cubic meters annually, and to export about 180 billion cubic meters of those.

The USA and EU started talks with Turkmenistan to procure natural gas supplies for Nabucco as early as 2007, after Berdimuhamev became President following the death of authoritarian ruler Saparmurat Niyazov.

Turkmenistan has the world's 4th largest natural gas reserves but so far has not officially become a supplier of Nabucco, the EU-sponsored pipeline designed to go around Russia bringing to Europe gas from the Middle East and the Caspian.

If Berdimuhamedov's statements materialize, this will become a substantial boost for Nabucco, which has come under stress as from the planned annual capacity of 31 bcm; it will probably just start operation in 2015, with 8 billion coming from Azerbaijan and about 10 billion from Iraqi Kurdistan.

At the same time, inclusion in Nabucco will mean Turkmenistan's natural gas will not be available for the Russian-sponsored South Stream pipeline to connect Russia with Italy via the Balkans.

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