Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, September 4 / Trend H. Hasanov /
Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Chinese president Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony of the production facilities at the Galkynysh gas field which is the second largest gas field for its resources, a source close to the negotiations said.
The largest fields in Turkmenistan are concentrated in Mary province in the country's Eastern sector. Total resources of Galkynysh and Yashlar field which is closely are estimated by local geologists and the GCA British Company to be within 26.2 trillion cubic meters.
Work at Galkynysh has been carried out since 2009 on the basis of signed service contracts. Turkmengas State Concern ordered the development of a complex of work to companies such as the CNPC Chuanqing Drilling Engineering Company Limited (China), LG International Corp, Hyundai Engineering Co. Ltd (South Korea), Petrofac International LLC and Gulf Oil & Gas FZE (UAE).
Within the first phase, the facilities for the production of 30 billion cubic meters of marketable gas per year were installed at the Galkynysh field. The Turkmen president said the commissioning of Galkynysh 'will give a great impetus to the further dynamic development of the national economy and contribute to attracting foreign investments to the country'.
Aspects of the energy strategy carried out by Turkmenistan are the increasing of production volume and export of natural gas and diversification of the routes for its supply to major world markets. The Caspian Sea country is one of the key players in the energy market in the region. Currently, its raw materials are exported to Russia and Iran. In 2009 the route to China was opened which reflected the willingness to increase the earlier declared volume to 65 billion cubic meters per year.
In May, 2013, Chairman of the Turkmengas State Concern Kakageldy Abdyllaev said at the fourth International Gas Congress that Galkynysh can be a resource base for increasing exports in various directions, including to China.
