The gas-rich central Asian republic of Turkmenistan is to invest 9.7 billion dollars in its largest natural gas field South Iolotan, local media reported Wednesday.
The state concern Turkmengas has already signed contracts with South Korea's LG International and Hyundai Engineering, China's CNPC Chuanqing Drilling Engineering Company and the United Arab Emirates companies of Petrofac International LLC and Gulf Oil & Gas, dpa reported.
Some of the largest energy concerns in the world including ExxonMobil, Gazprom and Shell competed for the exploration rights.
The government in Ashkhabad is to finance the estimated yearly extraction of about 20 billion cubic metres of gas with it own funds and with loans from the China Development Bank.
In June, Beijing authorized 4 billion dollars for the project. A new gas pipeline from Iolotan to China is expected to be built.
In the previous year, the British consultancy Gaffney, Cline and Associates estimated the reserves of the field at some 14 trillion cubic metres, making the Iolotan the fifth largest gas field in the world.
With around 8 trillion cubic metres of proven reserves, Turkmenistan has the fourth-largest deposit worldwide.
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