Turkmenistan ready to diversify natural gas supplies to ECO countries - president

ASHGABAT. March 28 (Interfax) - Turkmenistan is ready to diversify natural gas supplies substantially, specifically to consumers and transit countries in the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) area, the republic's President Serdar Berdimuhamedov said.

This proposal was made during a meeting between Berdimuhamedov and ECO Secretary General Khusrav Noziri, during which prospects for cooperation were discussed, the Neytralny Turkmenistan publication said on Thursday.

Transport was identified as another important vector of interaction. Based on its favorable geographical location, Turkmenistan attaches great importance to the development and use of transport and logistics hubs as a key area of economic cooperation with foreign partners.

In this regard, Berdimuhamedov invited the ECO to take a more active role in the implementation of Turkmenistan's transit opportunities, using such transport corridors as North-South and East-West.

The ECO members include Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

As previously reported, 80.6 billion cubic meters of gas were produced in Turkmenistan in 2023, growth of 2.9% year-on-year.

Turkmengaz currently exports natural gas to Russia, China, and Azerbaijan through Iran via the system of exchange transactions (SWAP). It is also planned to supply natural gas to Iraq through Iran via the SWAP system.

The North-South international transportation corridor is designed to ensure the transportation of goods between the countries of North-West Europe and the countries of the Caspian Basin, the Persian Gulf, Central, South, and Southeast Asia using Russian transport infrastructure.