Iranian Radio Eyes Turkmenistan’s Energy Export Capacity

Excerpt from report by state-run Iranian radio Turkmen service on 30 May

[Presenter] Here is a commentary prepared by our colleague concerning efforts Turkmenistan is making to increase its oil and gas export capacities.

[Correspondent] The deputy oil and gas minister of Turkmenistan, Bayramgeldi Nedirow, speaking at an international forum on oil and gas industry in Paris today, announced plans of his country to export 80m tonnes of oil and 200bn cu.m. of gas annually by 2030.

[Passage omitted: similar fuel export plans have been designed also in the past]

Recently, the country’s prospectors have managed to obtain a strong gas flow at a gas rich deposit in the country’s Ahal Region. As Turkmen officials announced, 170 oil and gas deposits have been discovered so far, with most of them situated in Yoloten and Osman fields. Turkmenistan’s current president, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, during a recent visit to Dowletabat, put his country’s gas reserves at over 24,000bn cu.m. At the same time, British Petroleum announced that Turkmenistan’s gas reserves are about 3,000bn cu.m.

Though Turkmenistan is known as a country rich in oil and gas resources, it faces problems in obtaining foreign investments. Partially, it is because the late Turkmen president, Saparmyrat Nyyazow, did not allow foreign companies to join Turkmenistan’s national projects. Such a stance led the country towards self- isolation in the international arena.

At present, Berdimuhamedow is making efforts to take his country out of international isolation. However, he could not resolve all problems in this respect. Therefore, it is too early to call successful the efforts to increase oil and gas exports and according to regional experts, Asgabat is not capable of producing annually 250bn cu.m. of gas by 2030.

Originally published by Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Gorgan, in Turkmen 1800 30 May 08.

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