OREANDA-NEWS. April 21, 2009. Ashgabat is going to receive honorary guests. On April 23 the Turkmen capital will host the international conference on the Reliable and Stable Transit of Energy and Its Role in Ensuring Sustainable Development and International Cooperation.

As is known, last year the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly approved the relevant UN Resolution coauthored by about 60 states including five states – the permanent members of the UN Security Council on the initiative of Turkmenistan. Thus, global concern upon concerting efforts to ensure reliable and stable transit of hydrocarbon resources, to expand an access of consumers to reliable, cost-effective, socially acceptable and environmentally friendly energy supply.

Bringing together the high-ranking officials from dozens of the countries worldwide and international organisations the coming forum is to build the platform for the further constructive dialogue to address the challenge of global energy security the mankind faces nowadays. The fact of conducting this forum illustrates that today international energy cooperation including transit of energy resources to world markets needs effective legal guarantees as never before.

In the framework of the international energy conference a specialized exposition presenting Turkmenistan’s profound energy potential and the vast opportunities for wide international cooperation based on mutual economic benefit to the forum participants representing world’s oil and gas business will be arranged at the Exhibition Centre.

According to international and Turkmen experts, the hydrocarbon reserves in Turkmenistan are estimated today as 2.8 million tons of oil and 24.6 trillion cubic metres of natural gas. The riches of the soil are convincingly illustrated by the deposits not yet developed in the Caspian Sea and oil and gas areas on the right bank of the Amu Darya River. The status of the country as one of the world’s energy producer was brilliantly proved by Southern Yoloten-Osman gas deposit – one of the most sensational discoveries made by Turkmen geologists. By the natural gas reserves varying from 4 to 14 trillion cubic metres – it ranks the fifth or fourth in the world. This really sensational conclusion was made upon receiving the results of the international audit of Turkmenistan’s deposits conducted by British firm Gaffney, Cline & Associates

In whole, over thousands of good oil and gas structures have been prospected, over 150 deposits have been discovered on land and offshore areas of the Caspian Sea to date and only 50 of them are in active development. On this basis the long-term agreements on gas cooperation were concluded with Russia, China, Iran, The Memorandum on Energy Cooperation was signed with the European Union and with RWE Joint Stock Company (Federal Republic of Germany) – one of the oldest and largest energy companies in Europe last week. The intergovernmental agreements provide for construction of the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline, the Caspian gas pipeline and reconstruction of the Central Asia-Centre gas transportation system. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan collaborate in these projects as well.

Power transmission lines supplying electric power from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey and Tajikistan and the Trans-Afghani and Trans-Caspian gas pipelines projected that will promote enhancing economic ties, peace and stability, increasing the people’s welfare are of considerable social, economic and geopolitical significance going beyond the Central Asian region that urgently demands new incentives to peacefully develop and promote economic cooperation. Addressing the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly in New York President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said that “on this platform Turkmenistan build its international energy strategy aimed at developing the diversified pipeline infrastructure to transit Turkmen energy to world markets on a stable and long-term basis.”

Having put forward the initiative to enhance the international guarantees of stable and reliable transit of energy Turkmenistan takes the concrete measures to fill it with a practical content. These include particularly technology modernization of the fuel and energy sector including gas industry. An essential component of this programme is construction of an interconnected gas transportation system, which will allow joining all the largest deposits in the country in ‘the blue ring’. That is the aim of the East-West Gas Pipeline Project initiated by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. The length of this gas pipeline with the annual capacity of 30 billion cubic metres varies from 800 to 1,000 km. It should be noted that the potential partners – the largest foreign firms and companies have applied for the participation in the international tender announced by the customer Turkmengaz State Concern. This project draws worldwide interest to a larger extent for Southern Yoloten field recognized as one of the most significant discoveries on the world energy map in recent years being the major ‘donor’ of the future gas artery.

Another not less promising field of international cooperation is petrochemistry that Turkmenistan heavily invests in. A vivid illustration is Turkmenbashi complex of oil refineries that is the largest petrochemical enterprise in the Central Asia. By using advanced resource saving technologies which have a minimal adverse environmental impact Turkmen petrochemical industry workers produce dozens of products of great demand on domestic and foreign markets – non-ethylated petrol, aviation and industrial kerosene, jet engine and diesel fuel, black oil fuel and lubricating oils, polypropylene, furnace oil, light gasoline, petroleum coke, liquefied gas, building and paving bitumen. In the near future the large-scale modernization projects will be launched at Seydi oil refinery.

In a word, having gained a strong reputation of the world’s oil and gas producer Turkmenistan demonstrates a very responsible and constructive approach to effective use of its natural resources. Calling for wide international cooperation and inviting foreign firms and companies representing the international financial and oil and gas business communities Turkmenistan stands ready to offer all necessary guarantees of protection of their investments made in joint development of the hydrocarbon deposits, construction of gas pipelines and energy infrastructure.

All of these issues will be the focus of the coming energy forum and exposition, which are expected to define the concrete steps to draft the relevant international statutory documents aimed at achieving energy security as an essential factor of global sustainable economic development and political stability and furthermore provide the vast opportunities for mutually advantageous oil and gas cooperation and promote integration of Turkmenistan’s oil and gas industry in global energy network.