Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Oct. 14 / Trend H. Hasanov /
A total of $9 billion has been invested in Turkmenistan since 1997. The first PSA agreements were signed, an official Turkmen source said.
This year, the amount of direct foreign investments can hit more than $4 billion, while last year the figure was more than $3 billion.
Over $2 billion were invested in Turkmenistan in 2008, $866 million - in 2007. The companies from Russia, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, UAE, Canada and China operate in Turkmenistan.
Petronas, Dragon Oil, Buried Hill, RWE, Itera are involved to develop the Turkmen part of the Caspian Sea. At present, Ashgabat holds direct negotiations with Total, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhilips, Mubadala, TX Oil and other companies.
About thirty licensed blocks, which require significant investments, are involved in the international tender in the Turkmen part of the Caspian Sea. This area has 11 billion tons of oil and 5.5 trillion cubic meters of gas, excluding the already contracted blocks.
More than 80 percent of hydrocarbon reserves on the shelf is in sediment at a depth of 3,000 meters, as well as in poorly studied oil and gas areas. New perspectives are associated primarily with two major oil and gas basins - Middle Caspian and South Caspian.