BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 24
By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend:
Gas exports remain the main source of revenue for Turkmenistan's budget, Dr. of Sciences (Politics), head of the Central Asia sector at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of Russian Academy of Sciences (IMEMO RAS), Dina Malysheva told Trend.
She pointed out that British Petroleum estimated the annual gas reserve of Turkmenistan at the end of 2017 at 19.5 trillion cubic meters, which puts country in fourth place in the world after Qatar, Iran and Russia.
"Turkmenistan's energy sector largely determines the main foreign economic and foreign policy trends in the development of the country," Malysheva said.
At the same time, she stressed what may negatively affect the energy sector of Turkmenistan, among which are reduction in export revenues from the sale of natural gas due to a decrease in the price and volume of supplies.
Referring to other negative affects, she added that Iran, which was a major buyer of Turkmen gas, has completely abandoned purchases since January 2017, so China remains the main buyer of Turkmen gas.
Malysheva also stressed that China buys Turkmen gas at low prices and at the expense of repayment of a loan ($4 billion) provided by China to Turkmenistan for the construction of a gas pipeline in the Chinese direction, which also negatively affects the country's energy sector.
In addition, Malysheva stressed that Turkmenistan's plans to increase gas exports to the European market through the construction of the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline may be hindered by competition from other gas exporters, in particular Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia.
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