BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 26
By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend:
Turkmenistan will continue to be a vital strategic partner and gas supplier to China in the near and long-term future, Ashley Sherman, Wood Mackenzie’s Principal Analyst for Caspian oil and gas told Trend.
“Turkmenistan’s main objective must continue to be ensuring a diversification of its gas monetisation and export options, to avoid its giant undeveloped resources becoming stranded,” he said, adding that, this task will be made even harder by the ongoing energy transition and the impact on demand in key existing or potential markets.
He said that few countries are as rich in natural resources as Turkmenistan, centered on its world-class gas reservoirs in the Amu Darya basin.
In terms of the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India Pipeline (TAPI) construction she said December 2020 will mark five years since the groundbreaking ceremony for the TAPI pipeline in Turkmenistan.
“Despite significant political effort, progress has been slow beyond Turkmenistan’s border. TAPI has always been a project with daunting obstacles – not least commercial and security. It now must adapt to a new market reality, which could make its gas less competitive in Pakistan and India and its financing less likely,” Sherman said.
The annual volume of natural gas supplies to China will be increased to 65 billion cubic meters per year in the future.
Turkmenistan has remained the leader in pipeline gas supplies to China in August. Most of the gas supplied by the Turkmen side to China was extracted from fields operated by the country’s Turkmengas State Concern.
Also, a new field on the territory of Bagtyyarlyk is being put into operation in the country. The field is being explored and developed by the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).
The volume of investments of CNPC, which has been operating since 2007 in this contract territory in the Eastern part of Turkmenistan, amounted to more than $ 8.2 billion at the beginning of 2020.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @JeilaAliyeva
