Central Asia's top natural gas producer, Turkmenistan, has hired a British firm to audit its gas reserves as it seeks to increase production and exports of the fuel, local media have reported.
The Caspian Sea nation, which sells most of its natural gas to Russia's gas export monopoly Gazprom, has ambitious plans to supply China, Pakistan and India but needs to confirm its massive reserves before embarking on new projects.
Turkmenistan has never officially disclosed its gas reserves, but government sources say they might be as high as 22.4 trillion cubic metres, much more than the 2.9 tcm estimated by BP in its annual statistical review. For comparison, the world's top gas producer, Russia, has 47.65 tcm of gas reserves and Iran has 28.13 tcm.
Turkmenistan, isolated under the 21-year rule of late President Saparmurat Niyazov who died in 2006, hopes to attract international majors to help it develop its gas fields, which might be difficult without an international resources audit.
Turkmen state news agency on Saturday quoted Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov as saying that country had picked British firm Gaffney, Cline & Associates (CGA) for the audit.
The British firm outbid much bigger auditor Degolyer & MacNaughton. "We chose the British company, which has already audited a number of deposits in Central and Eastern Turkmenistan," Berdymukhamedov was quoted as telling a cabinet meeting.
Turkmenistan produced 72.3 billion cubic metres of gas last year and plans to increase output to 81.5 bcm this year. It exports about 50 bcm a year to Russia's Gazprom, which then resells it to Ukraine.
The country is building a pipeline, with an annual capacity of up to 40 bcm, that will take its gas to China bypassing Russia. It is also discussing gas pipelines through Afghanistan to export gas to Pakistan and India. Analysts have questioned Turkmenistan's ability to produce enough gas for all the pipelines.
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