Azernews.Az

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has met Energy Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Suhail Mohammed Al Mazrui, the Turkmen government said on Monday.

"The UAE Energy Minister reiterated the readiness of Arab companies to expand mutually beneficial cooperation with Turkmenistan, which successfully implements the forward-looking energy strategy aimed at the fundamental modernization of the sector and the diversification of export routes for energy supplies to world markets," a statement said.

The UAE minister also stressed that this estimate includes not only rich hydrocarbon resources, the reserves of which have been confirmed by independent experts, but also the country's good business conditions, including a favorable investment climate and sustained economic growth.

Berdimuhamedov said Turkmenistan attaches great importance to strengthening and developing its generally friendly dialogue with the United Arab Emirates that was built on the principles of equality, mutual respect and good will.

Turkmenistan and the UAE intend to expand and enhance cooperation in areas such as oil and gas, oil refining, chemicals and renewable energy. This was stated in a joint statement signed after the talks between President Berdymukhamedov and UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, who was on a visit to Ashgabat in February 2013.

Companies from the United Arab Emirates are represented on the local energy market.

Dragon Oil has been operating in Turkmenistan since 1999 as part of a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA). The main fully owned asset of the company is concentrated in the eastern sector of the South Caspian Basin in the Cheleken Contract Area with a total area of about 950 square kilometers.

The company is one of the largest foreign investors in Turkmenistan. Its investments amounted to $2.4 billion as of late March 2012. Between 2012 and 2015, the company intends to attract more than $1 billion to put towards infrastructure in the Caspian Sea.

Another company, Petrofac, received a major contract to perform services for a total of about $4 billion to develop the Galkynysh field in the Mary region, which is the second largest field in the world. Petrofac was mandated to build a complex for cleaning commercial gas from sulfur with capacity of 10 billion cubic meters per year, as well as ground-based manufacturing facilities for production of sales gas with capacity of 20 billion cubic meters per year.