What happens when the largest exporter of natural gas in Central Asia (and the fourth largest reserves on the planet) declares its open disagreement with the Russia-led natural gas OPEC?  At the very least, it makes for an energy conference of heated diplomacy when heads of state meet in Ashgabat this week, as the Europeans fight for the Nabucco supply route direct to Europe (the word "bypass" is misleading), while the Russians fight for Gazprom's continued total monopoly over the country's exports.We're always impressed with the sophisticated negotiating techniques of the Turkmen leadership, but we've seen them play this game a couple too many times to get very excited about the possibilities for Europe to compete in a normal market in Central Asia alongside the Russians.  ...

Ukraine and Russia are at it again. This time, it’s turned especially nasty, as Russia cut off natural gas supplies to a host of European countries. Tired of relying on Russia, the EU will again look for alternatives. Its eyes will wander to Turkmenistan.

Back in October, while the world was busy putting out the fires of a financial crisis that still burns, little-thought-of Turkmenistan made a bombshell of an announcement. It seemed to gather little notice at the time. But it could become much more important as the Russian-Ukraine dynamic gets worse.

Gaffney, Cline and Associates, a British consulting firm, completed an audit of Turkmenistan’s Yoloten-Osman natural gas deposits. Based on GCA’s first results, the fields have a minimum of 4 trillion cubic meters of gas… and as much as 14 trillion cubic meters of gas, a truly staggering sum. The announcement put Yoloten-Osman among the four or five largest natural

...

Turkmenistan has just discovered what might be the fourth largest natural gas field on earth. I am sure that Gazprom doesn't like this development whatsoever. From the Asia Times: British consultancy firm Gaffney, Cline & Associates (GCA), making the announcement in Ashgabat regarding the first results of its audit of Turkmen gas reserves, said its low estimate under the established international and classification system is that the fields may have a minimum 4 trillion cubic meters of gas and as much as a staggering 14 trillion cubic meters. This catapults Yoloten-Osman, in the southeast of the country, to the status of Turkmenistan's No 1 gas field, overtaking even the fabulous Dowalatabad, whose reserves it will exceed by at least five times. It should be kept in mind that many other of Turkmenistan's many gas fields have yet to be fully explored, and the GCA has just made its initial findings known.