Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, July 12 / Trend H.Hasanov /
The Malaysian state-owned Petronas Charigali petroleum company operating in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sean since 1996 has launched a gas treatment plant with a capacity of 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
The launching ceremony in the Caspian Sea town of Kiyanly was held in the presence of Turkmen President Gurbangulu Berdimuhamedov and Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
The new plant will allow the company to start to export the associated natural gas from Turkmenistan, on whose resources Europe relies with an attempt to diversify the sales markets.
One option to deliver the Caspian resources is the Trans-Caspian Pipeline between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. This communication may be part of a large-scale pipeline project Nabucco.
As for oil, Petronas began commercial production and export of this raw material from May 2006, by using oil transport route that passes through Azerbaijan and Iran.
Malaysia's Petronas Charigali is widely represented in Turkmenistan on the Turkmen market.
The company signed the PSA with the Turkmen government in 1996 for the development of the Turkmen sector of the Caspian.