Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Jan. 16 / Trend H. Hasanov /
"We must prove in practice that Turkmenistan has the richest reserves of energy resources," Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow said today on the national TV channel Altyn Asyr.
In 2009, Turkmenistan was in the fourth place after Russia, Iran and Qatar according to BP report on natural gas reserves in the world.
"In 2010 we must draw about $10 billion investment funds to develop oil and gas fields of the country", the Turkmen leader said.
"We must rapidly develop and exploit newly discovered oil and gas deposits. In particular, it is necessary to accelerate work at the first stage of industrial development of deposits Southern Yolotan-Osman," Berdimuhammedow. It deals with the field which reserves hit 14 trillion cubic meters of gas. The companies from the UAE, China and South Korea will contract operations at the first phase of thier industrial development.
According to Berdimuhammedow, the increasing volumes of large hydrocarbon deposits discovered by Turkmen geologists, as well as their accelerated use will increase not only the oil and gas production, but volumes of their processing next years.
The gas production in Turkmenistan must rise to 250 billion cubic meters of oil - up to 110 million tons per year in accordance with the Oil and Gas Industry Development Program by 2030.
According to the chosen strategy, measures for the technical upgrading and modernization of oil and gas companies, the implementation of large investment projects, construction of industrial facilities using the best international practice and the achievements of scientific and technological progress must contribute to the achievement of these milestones.
In 2009, Turkmenistan managed to become a noticeable player in the international sale markets. A route to China was opened in late 2009. From early 2010 the volume of supplies to Iran increased. Last week, energy flows to Russia was restored after a six-month break. According to Berdimuhammedow, these events have shown the world Turkmenistan's ability to implement large-scale investment projects, clearly confirmed the success of energy strategy realized by Turkmenistan. This strategy is aimed at diversifying routes for Turkmen energy resources to the world markets.
The possibility of developing markets of Europe and India is being studied in Ashgabat now. "I charge officials with working over other vectors of delivering energy resources to the world markets. This work must be done quickly and efficiently, just as we have recently developed the two new lines of energy transportation," the Turkmen leader said.
"Natural gas production in the required volumes and its transportation to foreign countries under the concluded contracts should be ensured. It is necessary to increase oil production at 105.2 percent compared to the previous year", Berdimuhammedow said.