Turkmenistan: Striking lucky again with new gas find

Turkmenistan has discovered a potentially major new gas field in the east of the country, the government says, boosting confidence that it can fulfil its ambitious gas contracts with China. The new find is on the Shiringuyy structure in the Bagtyyarlyk contract area, located in Lebap province. Bagtyyarlyk has been jointly developed by Turkmengaz and China National Petroleum Corporation since 2007. Last year the Chinese energy giant announced plans to increase production there from 5.5 billion cubic metres a year to 6.5 billion, a target that this field will go some way to fulfilling.

Preliminary estimates suggest that the find is capable of producing an impressive 1.5 million cubic metres/day. This would make a significant contribution to the Turkmenistan-China pipeline, which is supplied by the Bagtyyarlyk contract area. At the end of last year construction began on a new compressor station to allow Shiringuyy gas to be fed into the pipeline. The station will be complete by 2014 and will be able to process 9bcm of gas every year.

Turkmen media have yet to release details on the production timeframe or the geological conditions of the new field.

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