Turkmenistan, Ashkhabad, Dec 9 /Trend H.Hasanov/
The State Oil Company of Malaysia Petronas is ready to expand into the Turkmen market, the local media wrote on Friday, commenting on the results of the recent visit of the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to the country.
Mr Berdimuhamedov met with Petronas president Dato 'Shamsul Azhar Abbas in Kuala Lumpur, writes the newspaper Neutral Turkmenistan.
The businessman praised Turkmenistan's potential key economic sectors which incorporate international relations.
"The interest of one of the largest energy companies in the world Petronas to further expand a partnership with Turkmenistan in the oil and gas industry was emphasised at the meeting," the statement said.
"Turkmenistan being one of the biggest energy providers, aimed at strengthening international cooperation including its traditional partners, which include Petronas," the president said about the negotiations, according to the state news service The Turkmen Dovlet khabarlary.
Petronas has become the first foreign company to develop the hydrocarbon fields lying in the Turkmen Caspian shelf on the basis of a production sharing agreement in Block 1 signed in 1996.
Over 20 exploration and appraisal wells have been drilled as part of the project and such fields as Makhtumkuli Diyarbekir Garagol and also Denise where the discoveries of large reserves of hydrocarbons have been prepared for development.
The total amount of oil production has already exceeded 1.5 million tons since 2006, when the Diyarbekir field was commissioned. The modern infrastructure including the assembly plant for offshore structures used particularly in the construction of offshore platforms is built on the Caspian coast.
Commercial production of natural gas on the Turkmen shelf of the Caspian Sea began for the first time this summer. The gas processing plant and land terminal were put into operation near the village of Kiyanly in July 2011. Capacity of the first stage of the complex is five billion cubic metres of natural gas and 2.4 million tons of gas condensate per year.
Petronas has invested over $5.6 billion in the development of offshore fields in the Turkmen sector of Caspian Sea.