Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Turkmenistan is one of the most reliable sources of supplying gas to Europe, Energy Charter Secretary General Urban Rusnak said.

He made the statement in a meeting with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov in Ashgabat, local Turkmen media reported on February 25.

During the meeting, the Turkmen president highlighted the country's interest in expanding bilateral cooperation in the field of energy.

It was also noted that modern realities dictate the need to create a close, multifaceted partnership in order to ensure reliable protection of international energy supplies, as well as to increase investment in the development of local fuel and energy complex.

The sides agreed that the Energy Charter and its secretariat to participate in the working groups established under Turkmen leadership and to prepare and discuss issues of safe transit of energy resources in the UN format.

It is planned to hold a meeting of international experts on this problem in the first half of 2014 in Ashgabat.

Turkmenistan is one of the key players in the energy market in the resource-rich Caspian region. It produces about 70-80 billion cubic meters of gas a year. Each year it exports raw materials to Russia, China and Iran.

The Central Asian state has the world's fourth largest natural gas reserves after Russia, Iran and Qatar. In accordance with the program for oil and gas development, it is planned to increase the country's annual natural gas production to 250 billion cubic meters by 2030, mostly for export purposes.

The largest gas resources in the country are concentrated in the Mary region in eastern Turkmenistan, including Galkynysh gas field recognized as the second largest deposit in the world with reserves of 26.2 trillion cubic meters.

According to Turkmengeologiya State Concern, the country has 38 oil and 82 gas condensate fields and 153 gas fields, including 142 onshore fields and 11 fields on the sea shelf.