This is a translation of Abdulgamid’s post on the Russian blog

There are some names of places, regions and areas, which are used by world mass media as common nouns, e.g. Gaza Strip, Nagorny Karabakh and Falkland Islands – and “conflict” is the word that can be at once associated with such places. There is also one place in Turkmenistan causing many disputes, extraordinary meetings at the highest level and making involved Ministries of Foreign Affairs exchanging strict notes of protest.

There is an oil field at Caspian shelf discovered during Soviet era and named “Promezhutochnoye” (Intermediate – Eng.), since it locates at the middle line of Turkmenistan - Azerbaijan sea border. Later it received two names, the Turkmen version is Serdar and the Azerbaijani - Kapaz.

The international scandal involving Canada burst out in autumn 2004. Then, in September, the former Canada Prime-Minister, Mr. Jean Cretian, accompanied Mr. Rodger Haines, the President of “Buried Hill Energy” (BHE) company, during the trip around Turkmenistan. After meeting with Turkmenbashi this Canadian oil company received approval for Kapaz oil-field operation. However, State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) stated that some exploration activities had been carried out in the field, and only Azerbaijan had right to proceed with these activities. Azerbaijani government sent the note of protest to formal Ottawa and warned that Turkmenistan-Canada deal was not valid.

Now apparently the conflict is settled. There are clear signs that some disputable moments have been resolved after several rounds of Ashgabat – Baku negotiations. Although there is still the issue of the Caspian Sea status remaining open, Serdar/Kapaz question was settled by reaching the agreement that suit all parties.

As Rodger Haines, Head of the Omani-Canadian company, reported during his meeting with Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov, BHE is about to complete seismic measurements and offshore explorations of the Turkmen shelf, and is preparing to proceed to implementing a drilling programme as part of an earlier made agreement.

According to the report of Turkmenistan State Information Agency (TDH) the head of state spoke in favor of speeding up the drilling programme and stressed the importance of attracting the advanced and ecology friendly technologies.

This is an outstanding evidence that Turkmenistan is no longer considered as ambitious, quite unpredictable and unreliable player at the foreign policy scene in terms of economical partnership. This prolonged Turkmenistan vs. Azerbaijan conflict has brought nothing except for headache, but as soon as it’s over it will be only of benefit to both countries.