Third time lucky for Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline?
Financial and institutional obstacles to the project appear at last to be clearing
The current effort—the third—to realise the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TCGP) has better prospects than the previous ones. In order to evaluate its chances of success, one must understand both its history and its unaccustomed financing structure. The first attempt to develop the TCGP foundered in the late 1990s, when Italian engineers developed new technology enabling Gazprom to lay an ultra-deep pipeline under the Black Sea for direct supplies to Turkey. Based on it, Russia proposed the Blue Stream pipeline to Turkey, two strings of 9bn m³/yr each. The subsequent take-or-pay agreement with Gazprom affected Turkey's previous agreement with Turkmenistan. Instead of taking the initially propos
Also in this section
18 February 2026
With Texas LNG approaching financial close, Alaska LNG advancing towards a phased buildout and Magnolia LNG positioned for future optionality, Glenfarne CEO Brendan Duval says the coming year will demonstrate how the company’s more focused, owner-operator approach is reshaping LNG infrastructure development in the North America
18 February 2026
The global gas industry is no longer on the backfoot, hesitantly justifying the value of its product, but has greater confidence in gas remaining a core part of the global energy mix for decades
18 February 2026
With marketable supply unlikely to grow significantly and limited scope for pipeline imports, Brazil is expected to continue relying on LNG to cover supply shortfalls, Ieda Gomes, senior adviser of Brazilian thinktank FGV Energia,
tells Petroleum Economist
17 February 2026
The 25th WPC Energy Congress, taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 26–30 April 2026, will bring together leaders from the political, industrial, financial and technology sectors under the unifying theme “Pathways to an Energy Future for All”
