Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The volume of oil refining in Turkmenistan increased by 1.8 percent in the eight months of 2014 compared to the same period of 2013, Trend Agency reported with reference to the country's Oil and Gas Industry and Mineral Resources Ministry.

The gasoline production increased by 2.8 percent, diesel fuel by 2.1 percent, polypropylene by 9.5 percent, lubricants and associated gas by 14.6 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively.

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 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, exported to more than 40 world countries, including Turkey, China, Russia, UAE, Iran, Germany, U.S., UK, Ukraine, Switzerland are sold on the exchange.

Turkmenistan plans to increase the capacity of the oil refining industry to 20 million metric tons of oil in 2020, to 22 million metric tons in 2025 and to 30 million metric tons in 2030.

The country annually produces around 10 million metric tons of oil, the significant part of which is refined at local refineries.