Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, August 13 / Trend H. Hasanov /
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov instructed energy industry leaders today to hold "fruitful negotiations with the Chinese State Development Bank to receive a favorable loan worth $4.1 billion," the Neutralniy Turkmenistan newspaper reported.
The loan will go toward developing the South Eloten Field.
The field's gas resources are estimated at 4-14 trillion cubic meters of gas.
Ashgabat recently increased the projection to 16 trillion cubic meters.
The Turkmen government received the same loan over a year ago.
The Chinese State Development Bank allocated a loan worth $4 billion to Turkmengaz.
The signing ceremony took place during Chinese Vice Prime Minister Li Keqiang's visit to Turkmenistan.
The two countries are bound by a common gas pipeline project, which is under construction in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
Gas transportation through the pipeline with a capacity of roughly 30-40 billion cubic meters per year began in late 2009. Its initial capacity will be about 5 billion cubic meters. Since early this year, over 2 billion cubic meters have already been transported.