Tech & Biz

Foreign firms win 10-billion-dollar Turkmen energy deals

by snuffysmith | January 4, 2010 at 05:50 am

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Turkmenistan has awarded contracts worth $9.7 billion to a series of foreign companies including the China National Petroleum Corporation, South Korea's LG International and UAE-based Petrofac International, to develop one of the world's most prized gas fields, .

Under the contracts signed with Turkmengaz, Turkmenistan's state energy company, the companies will develop the gas fields and build gas plants. These contracts are substantial and significant.

Foreign firms win 10-billion-dollar Turkmen energy deals

China National Petroleum Corporation, South Korea's LG International and UAE-based Petrofac International are among the firms set to develop the South Yolotan gas field, Turkmenistan's state information agency said late Tuesday.

"This event marks one more step on the path to the realization of Turkmenistan's energy strategy," the agency said in a statement posted on the website of the secretive, energy-rich state's website.

"The largest projects of regional and world significance have been given a start," it added.

Turkmen officials say that South Yolotan holds at least four to six trillion cubic metres of gas and possibly as much as 14 trillion, numbers that have been confirmed by Gaffney, Cline and Associates, a British energy consulting firm.

Turkmenistan's then-president Saparmurat Niyazov announced the discovery of the field in the east of the country in 2006, saying at the time that it was among the world's largest.

UAE-based Gulf Oil and Gaz Fze will build drilling facilities to secure annual production of 20 billion cubic metres of gas under one of the contracts, worth up to 1.15 billion dollars.

CNPC Chuanqing Drilling Engineering Company will produce 10 billion cubic metres of gas a year under a contract worth just over three billion dollars.

These contracts come at a time when the Asian, Russian and western companies have been engaged in fierce competition to gain a foothold and develop one of the world's most promising gas markets.

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snuffysmith

at 06:38 on January 4th, 2010

Beijing plays Pipelineistan
While China is at the forefront of moves toward green energy supplies, it is leaving nothing to chance. Imported oil and gas are still crucial - and will be for a long time - to its economic growth, and Central Asia is key to Beijing's wide-ranging energy strategy. - Pepe Escobar