Gasoline price up in Turkmenistan
By Kamila Aliyeva
Gasoline price has increased by 50 percent starting from February 1 in Turkmenistan.
Now, the cost of a liter of 95 petrol amounts to 1.5 manats (1 manat earlier) while a liter of 92 petrol costs 1.35 manats (0.94 earlier), RIA Novosti reported.
Even with the current 50 percent increase, the price of gasoline in Turkmenistan remains one of the lowest in the CIS area.
Turkmenistan for many years was a “gasoline paradise” as fuel prices in the country were among the lowest in the world.
At the time of the first president Saparmurat Niyazov, gasoline cost, in terms of dollars, amounted to 2 cents per liter. Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov went even further by introducing the limits of free gasoline for Turkmen motorists in 2008.
In addition to the fact that there were low gasoline prices in the country, every owner of the car received 120 liters of gasoline per month free of charge. Privileges for free quotas were explained by the fact that all gasoline is produced on the territory of Turkmenistan.
The era of free gasoline lasted six years and was canceled in 2014.
According to experts' forecasts, the demand for AI-95 gasoline and diesel fuel will double by 2030. Therefore, a set of measures was developed to further increase the capacities of oil refineries in the cities of Turkmenbashi and Seydi.
Turkmenistan plans to raise the productivity of oil refinery industry to 20 million tonnes by 2020, 22 million tonnes by 2025 and 30 million tonnes by 2030.
Today, the country produces 10 million tonnes a year and the most part of the produced oil is being refined at local companies.
Turkmenbashi Complex of Oil Refineries is the flagship of oil refineries industry of Turkmenistan. Today, the share of the complex accounts is a quarter of the volume of industrial products manufactured in the Central Asian country.
Turkmenistan, being rich with oil and gas resources, opened about two hundred oil and gas fields so far. Potential hydrocarbon resources of the country amount to 71.2 billion tonnes of oil equivalent, of which 53 billion fall on the land, and 18.2 billion tonnes - on marine areas.
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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva
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