(Itar-Tass) - Turkmenistan's natural gas output will increase to 50 billion cubic meters in a near time, the director of the Institute of Oil and Gas, Makhtumkuli Khydyrov, said in an interview to the newspaper Neitralny Turkmenistan published on Wednesday.
He said the institute's specialists had prepared a plan of investment in the development of the gas field Yuzhny Iotolan.
It "is intended for the "output 20 billion cubic meters of 'blue fuel' at the first stage of development".
The implementation of another investment project of large-scale development of Garazhovlak, Gukkukbill, Gabril and Takhtabaza-1 deposits in centreral Karakum is to increase the gas output to 30 billion cubic
meters a year, Khydyrov said.
Specialists of the institute have participated over the recent years in opening 20 gas and gas condensate fields, including Uyzhyny Iotolan and Osman.
They uncovered six deposits, which increases gas reserves to one trillion cubic meters.
Officially, Turkmenistan's gas output is about 80 billion cubic meters, of which 20 billion is used within the country, 50 billion is sold to Russia and about 10 billion to Iran.
Under the national programme of oil and gas industry development, the gas output is to be brought to 120 billion cubic meters by 2010, to 175 billion cubic meters by 2010 and 250 billion by the year 2030.