Turkmenistan to launch gas purification facility
By Aynur Jafarova
Turkmenistan will commission a gas purification facility in the Lebap province in early May.
This was announced by Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov last week. The new facility will allow transportation of the planned volume of fuel to China.
The gas purification facility will be commissioned under the National Socio-Economic Development Program for 2011-2030. This will allow Turkmenistan to transit natural gas to China in the volume envisaged in the program.
Earlier, the Turkmen president issued a number of instructions to carry out accelerated work on a stepwise increase of gas export via Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline.
China, a major energy consumer, and Turkmenistan, a major energy producer, enjoy a natural advantage and huge potential in energy cooperation.
China is one of the key buyers of Turkmen gas, and is expected to increase its annual purchases up to 65 billion cubic meters of gas.
Turkmenistan is one of the key players in the energy market of the resource-rich Caspian region. The Central Asian state has the world's fourth largest natural gas reserves after Russia, Iran, and Qatar, and produces about 70-80 billion cubic meters of gas a year.
Turkmenistan intends to increase the production volume and export of natural gas, and diversify the routes of supply to major world markets as part of its energy strategy.
Under the program for oil and gas development, the country's annual natural gas production is planned to reach 250 billion cubic meters by 2030, mostly for export purposes.
Furthermore, stable growth is observed in the turnover between Turkmenistan and China. The annual volume of exports and imports is around $9 billion.
Turkmenistan is actively acquiring vehicles for rail industry and telecommunication equipment from China.