Turkmenistan increases oil, gas production
By Aynur Jafarova
Turkmenistan increased its natural and associated gas production by 10.1 percent in January-October 2014 compared to the same period last year, the Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ministry reported on November 13.
The ministry also noted the volume of the country’s gas export
to foreign countries increased by 10.3 percent in the reported
period.
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 each
year.
The largest deposits of the country are concentrated in the Mary region in the east of Turkmenistan.
Turkmenistan intends to increase the production volume and export of natural gas, and diversify its routes of supply to major world markets as part of an energy strategy.
Under a 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.
Currently, domestic products are exported to more than 40 world countries, including Turkey, China, Russia, UAE, Iran, Germany, U.S., UK, Ukraine and Switzerland.
Turkmen Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ministry went on noting that the country’s oil and gas condensate production increased by 2.3 percent in the first 10 months of 2014.
Turkmenistan produces about 10 million tons of oil annually, a significant part of which is processed in local refineries.
The country plans to bring the oil refining industry capacity to 15 million tons of oil per year in 2015, up to 20 million tons in 2020, up to 22 million tons in 2025, and up to 30 million tons in 2030.