28-09-08 Mr Valery Golubev, Deputy CEO of Gazprom was quoted as saying that a general feasibility study will be prepared on the pre-Caspian gas pipeline in early 2009. He said that the main participants in the project, Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, should draw up feasibility studies for their respective sections of the pipeline.
He added that, "These three national feasibility studies will be merged into one early next year and the economics of the project will be clear."

The pre-Caspian project envisions the construction of a gas pipeline from the Belek compressor station outside Turkmenbashi in western Turkmenistan to the gas measuring station Alexandrov Gai in Russia's Saratov region and requires the overhaul of the existing Okarem-Beineu pipeline from the southern part of Turkmenistan's Caspian coast to the Central Asia-Centre (CAC) pipeline as well as the CAC pipeline itself.
As part of the agreement, Turkmengaz will build a new gas pipeline with capacity of up to 10 bn cm per year tothe Karabogaz gas measuring station in Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan's gas transportation capacity along this route is to be increased to 20 bn cm of gas per year so that it can transport additional volumes of Turkmen gas as well as 10 bn cm of Kazakh gas. The three countries may agree in the future to increase the volume of gas to be transported along this pipeline in excess of the aforementioned figures.
The pre-Caspian gas pipeline is considered by some observers to be an alternative to the Trans Caspian gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan, which can transport Turkmen gas to Europe bypassing Russia.