Turkmenistan ratifies agreement with Azerbaijan on Caspian hydrocarbon field

AKIPRESS.COM - Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan will jointly develop the long-disputed hydrocarbon field in the Caspian Sea, which was recently named Dostlug, meaning friendship. The Parliament of Turkmenistan ratified the respective memorandum on March 13.
The agreement on the field will be signed by leaders of two countries Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Ilkham Aliyev at the upcoming meeting.
Russia and Turkey intend to participate in the project.
Ashgabat and Baku have put an end to the dispute over the Caspian field called in Turkmenistan Serdar and Kyapaz in Azerbaijan lasting since collapse of the USSR. Azerbaijan offered Turkmenistan repeatedly to develop the field together, but Turkmenistan rejected the deal, saying the field belonged to Turkmenistan. The relations between the countries worsened to the extent that first President of Turkmenistan Saparmurad Niyazov even closed the Embassy of Turkmenistan in Azerbaijan. Just one step remained from verbal exchanges to clashes on the sea. The situation changed recently, when Turkmenistan joined infrastructure projects and transport corridors leading to Europe.
The agreement on cooperation on the field was reached during official visit of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to Baku in March 2020. The countries agreed then to call the field Dostlug, meaning friendship in Turkmen and Azeri.
In January 2021, the Foreign Ministers signed the memorandum on joint exploration and development of the Dostlug hydrocarbon field. The document was then ratified by parliaments of two countries.
The field is estimated to host 50 million tons of oil.