Baku, Azerbaijan, June 19
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The European Investment Bank (EIB) currently has not signed yet a Framework Agreement with Turkmenistan that would provide a legal basis for EIB activities in this country, EIB told Trend in response to a question about possibility of investing in the further development of Turkmenistan’s Galkynysh gas field.
"Please note that the European Investment Bank (EIB) currently does not operate in Turkmenistan, as the EIB has not signed yet a Framework Agreement with Turkmenistan that would provide a legal basis for EIB activities in this country," said the bank.
Further, the bank’s representative noted that the EIB is currently active in three Central Asian countries: Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and most recently, Kyrgyzstan.
The loans provided by the EIB in the mentioned Central Asian countries come from the lending window for Asia provided under the mandate from the Council and European Parliament for the period 2014-2020, out of which 182 million euros has been made available for use in Central Asia, said EIB.
"In addition, the mentioned Central Asian countries are eligible under the Bank’s own risk Climate Action & Environment Facility (CAEF) for investment grade projects in renewable energy, energy efficiency, carbon capture, transportation or storage projects aiming specifically to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and projects contributing substantially to security of EU energy supply."
President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has recently ordered to intensify work to attract foreign investment for the development of the Galkynysh gas field.
The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, construction of which began in December 2015, originates from this source of raw materials. The head of state instructed to speed up the implementation of the project of construction of this transnational energy bridge.
Galkynysh is the second largest gas field in the world and is already one of the raw sources of Turkmen gas supplies to China. According to independent audit, the reserves of Galkynysh field together with the Yashlar and Garkel fields total to 27.4 trillion cubic meters of gas.
In July 2017, it was announced that in the near future it is planned to start the third stage of the development of Galkynysh field, which will increase the production capacity by another 33 billion cubic meters of commercial gas per year with the expectation of supplies to South Asia.
To date, production facilities of the first stage, with a capacity of 30 billion cubic meters of commercial gas per year, have been commissioned here, and in 2014 the second stage with a similar capacity was launched.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn