Azernews.Az

By Vusala Abbasova

Turkmenistan secured its leading position in gas resources after the discovery of a new gas field at the Bagley-1 area in the Karakum Desert located in the Mary region.

The search for new deposits of oil and gas in southeastern Turkmenistan yielded successful results after the first exploration reached a depth of 4,690,000 meters and the operational column omitted 230 meters above.

The daily hydrocarbon output of the new field will exceed 1.5 million cubic meters and is located only a few dozen kilometers away from the gigantic Galkynysh field, which is famous worldwide for its explored and proven natural gas reserves. The energy neighborhood has the potential to yield even greater gas discoveries.

The drilling rig at the Bagley-1 site will be dismantled and moved to neighboring Minar-3 after the current tests on the new field are completed. Further exploration for new fields will continue at the Minar-3 area for a while.

Turkmenistan, holding the fourth biggest gas reserves in the world after Iran, Russia and Qatar, and second in the CIS countries after Russia, is a major player in the energy market of the Caspian region and Central Asia.

Currently, Turkmenistan supplies gas to China, Iran, and Russia and plans to become a major energy supplier to EU countries, according to a recent announcement.

The construction of the 300-kilometer Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, which is expected to be a route for Turkmen gas through the Caspian Sea to the European markets with annual capacity of 30 billion cubic meters of gas, is on the agenda.

The potential source for the Trans-Caspian pipeline would be gas produced at the Galkinish field – Turkmenistan's largest gas field. But, considering recent development, it is quite possible to supply gas from the new discovered deposit in Bagley-1 area.

Moreover, Turkmenistan plans to realize the TAPI project (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) – a 1,800-kilometer gas pipeline which will provide gas to 1.5 billion people. The annual capacity of the pipeline will exceed 30 billion cubic meters of gas.

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