Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline

BP plans to complete by mid-2018 the Georgian section of a $40-billion strategic pipeline bringing Caspian gas from Azerbaijan into Europe, the British energy company's country manager for Georgia said.

The Southern Gas Corridor will start pumping gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe by 2020, its backers said on Thursday, despite the risk of delays to this option for reducing dependence on Russia.

Politicians and ministers meeting in Baku backed the $40 billion, 3,500-kilometer chain of pipelines, a step toward curbing Russia's one-third share of Europe's natural gas market.

The Federation Council of Russia has approved the law for the ratification of the agreement between the governments of Russia and Turkey on the Turkish Stream pipeline.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov pointed to the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline as a possible step towards the achievement of greater energy diversification.

Borisov stated this during his meeting with the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow in Ashgabat on Tuesday, the government's press service informs.

Suspected Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants have blown up a section of the South Caucasus Pipeline in the Turkish province of Kars.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum natural gas pipeline runs form the Shah Deniz gas field in Azerbaijan to Turkey.

A continuing delay in the Turkish Stream energy project stems from factors in both Russia and Turkey, Energy Minister Taner Y?ld?z said Aug. 4.

The future head of Austria's OMV Rainer Seele appears to be planning a new route for Russian gas to Europe bypassing Ukraine jointly with Gazprom, according to Austrian newspaper Die Presse.

Seele will take the helm at one of the most powerful energy companies in central Europe on 1 July to replace OMV's current CEO Gerhard Roiss, who is set to step down at the end of June.

Russia?s foreign minister has urged the European Union to support the idea of a Moscow-backed pipeline that would bring natural gas across the Black Sea to Turkey and the rest of Europe.

Sergei Lavrov said on Friday the pipeline ? which could include Greece, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary ? would bring ?energy stability? to Europe.

EU energy boss Maros Sefcovic said late on April 30 that Europe could import natural gas from ex-Soviet Turkmenistan via Iran as Brussels ramps up efforts to break its dependence on Russian-sourced energy.

Bulgaria wants the European Commission to revive plans for the Nabucco pipeline that would pump gas from the Caspian Sea, after a Russian project seen as a rival was scrapped, Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said on Wednesday.