An expert Central Asian analyst at the British University of Glasgow contends that the construction of the Turkish Stream pipeline will diminish the prospects of the Trans-Caspian pipeline.

The analyst, Luca Aneschi, told Trend magazine that “any progress on Turkish Stream would modify the structure of the demand for Caspian gas, making the Trans-Caspian pipeline even more irrelevant."

The Trans-Caspian gas pipeline project seeks to lay of a 300-km gas pipeline between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan along the bottom of the Caspian Sea, delivering gas from Central Asian and in particular from Turkmenistan, which is the fourth in the world in terms of gas reserves, to Azerbaijan. Further Turkmen gas would be pumped through existing infrastructure to Europe, thus decreasing EU’s dependence on Russian energy supplies.

Negotiations for the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline between Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and the EU have been ongoing since 2011. The project may be implemented as a part of huge Southern Gas Corridor project designed to transport gas from the Caspian region to European countries.