Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, September 5 / Trend H. Hasanov /
Turkmenistan and China have agreed to start negotiations on financing the second phase of development of the Galkinish field which is the second one on the world resources list, the Turkmen Dovlet Khabarlary (TDH) State News Service statement said.
According to the statement, the agreement on cooperation on financing the second phase of development of the Galkinish gas field was signed in Ashgabat between the Turkmengas State Concern and State Development Bank of China JSC.
Moreover, a contract on the sale of 25 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year was signed between the Turkmengas State Concern and the China National Petroleum Corporation.
According to the information this volume will be received from the Galkinish field in the framework of the signed contract to design and build with complete operating readiness, the facility for the production of gas sales with a capacity of 30 billion cubic meters per year. This deal has also been made between the Turkmengas State Concern and China National Petroleum Corporation.
The largest fields in Turkmenistan are concentrated in Mary province in the country's Eastern sector. Total resources of Galkinish 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 Galkinish 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 (PRC), 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 Galkinish field.
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.