Turkmenistan to continue investing in new field development - president
ASHGABAT. Jan 25 (Interfax) - Turkmenistan's energy policy, according to which natural gas is exported to China, Iran, and Russia, as well as other world sales markets, is founded on a colossal wealth of hydrocarbon resources in the country, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow said during a working visit to the Galkynysh gas field (revival in Turkmen, earlier called Yuzhny Yolotan-Osman).
Turkmen television reported on Tuesday that Berdimuhamedow was making a working visit to the country's Mary Province.
According to the results of the second phase of an independent audit implemented by Britain's Gaffney, Cline Associates on Berdimuhamedow's instructions, gas reserves at the Galkynysh field come to 26.2 trillion cubic meters, which makes the field second biggest in the world.
The Galkynysh field was discovered in 2007. Turkmenistan started industrial development of the gigantic field in December 2009, signing several major contracts with major companies from South Korea, China, and the United Arab Emirates worth over a combined $9.7 billion. State company Turkmengaz signed an additional two agreements in April 2011 with China Development Bank and PetroChina in order to raise an additional $4.1 billion for the purpose of speeding up development at the gas field.
Berdimuhamedow said: "The state is allocating enormous investment for the development of the oil and gas sector, such as the development of new and promising fields. For these purposes, top model technologies are being purchased and leading foreign companies are being brought in for partnership."
He added that the widespread introduction of innovative technologies and the newest scientific developments in various fuel and energy sectors is of particular importance in this regard.
Commenting on the extensive operations underway for the field's development, Berdimuhamedow said that over 3,000 people have been deployed for construction work in order to ensure development. As has earlier been noted, with the start of industrial development of hydrocarbon production, this field will facilitate the creation over around 5,000 jobs, thereby ensuring employment opportunities for residents in several districts of the Mary and Lebap regions.
"In the future, the state will also give primary attention to strengthening the material and technical base of the oil and gas industry, as well as increasing the standard of living for energy and fuel sector workers," Berdimuhamedow said.
Aboard a helicopter, Berdimuhamedow appraised the extent of the Galkynysh field's development, as well as the construction of facilities for refining and preparing production. He also made a visit to the Osman-5 well.
Osman is a very promising production site. Following the drilling of an exploration well, 5 million cubic meters in daily natural gas flow was uncovered. "Data acquired during the drilling process allows one to comment with confidence about gigantic gas layers. Specialists believe that the gas layers uncovered at the Osman site, as well as hydrocarbon layers at Yolotan, make this a oil and gas accumulation, meaning a single, giant field covering 1,800 square kilometers," Turkmen media outlets reported.
