Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, April 5
By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend:
The production of natural and associated gas increased by 5 percent in Turkmenistan in January-March 2015 compared to the same period of 2014, the Turkmen Ministry of Oil and Gas Industry and Mineral Resources said.
The export of this fuel to other countries has increased by 6.5 percent, according to the ministry.
Currently, Turkmenistan exports its natural gas to China, Iran and Russia. The Trans-Caspian gas pipeline across the Caspian Sea to Europe through Azerbaijan and the Trans-Afghan gas pipeline to Pakistan to India are among the planned gas pipelines from Turkmenistan.
Turkmenistan ranks fourth for the volume of natural gas reserve in the world after Russia, Iran and Qatar, according to BP report.
The country's largest fields are concentrated in the Mary province in the country's east - around the Galkynysh field - with total resources estimated by local geologists and British GCA at 26.2 trillion cubic meters.
Under the program for development of the country's oil and gas industry, it is planned to increase the gas production volume to 230 billion cubic meters by 2030 and the major part of this volume is considered for export.
It was earlier reported that over 76 billion cubic meters of natural gas was produced in Turkmenistan in 2014 and more than 45 billion cubic meters of this volume was sent for export.