Turkmen gas field to begin production in 2013

Galkynysh field will feed TAPI to supply energy-hungry Pakistan with gas

ASHGABAT: Turkmenistan plans to begin production at the world’s second-largest gas field next year, a senior Turkmen official said, opening up new US-backed supply routes to Europe and Asia at the risk of Russian opposition.

The Central Asian nation plans to build two new pipelines to carry gas from the Galkynysh field. The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline will run to Pakistan and India and the trans-Caspian pipeline will cross the Caspian Sea en route to the European Union, easing the bloc’s dependence on Russian gas.

“We can launch industrial output at Galkynysh next year,” said the Turkmen government official, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak publicly on the matter.

“Right now, three gas-processing plants are being built, and two of them are certain to be ready in January or February,” he said on the sidelines of an energy conference.

Turkmenistan’s natural gas reserves rank fourth in the world behind those of Russia, Iran and Qatar, British Petroleum data shows. British auditor Gaffney, Cline & Associates has estimated the field’s reserves at 13.1 trillion to 21.2 trillion cubic metres.

The field was being developed under a service contract by China National Petroleum Corporation, Dubai-based Gulf Oil & Gas Fze, London-listed Petrofac and a Korean consortium of LG International Corporation and Hyundai Engineering Company.

The 1,735 km (1,085-mile) TAPI pipeline to Pakistan and India, meanwhile, faces security challenges because it must cross Afghanistan. Turkmen officials have said it can carry one trillion cubic metres of gas over a 30-year period, or 33 billion cubic metres (bcm) a year.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2012.