Caspian Energy (CE): Mr. Mametyazov, Turkmenistan is widely known as a country rich with natural gas resources. How would you evaluate the hydrocarbons potential of the country? 

Annageldy Mametyazov, Deputy Minister of Oil and Gas Industry and Mineral Resources of Turkmenistan: While characterizing the energy potential of Turkmenistan, international oil companies and experts name the figure of 12% of world’s hydrocarbon resources.   

In general, the energy potential of the oil and gas industry of Turkmenistan, according to assessments of Turkmen and foreign experts, makes 71.2 billion tons of oil equivalent, including 20.86 billion tons of oil and 50.34 trillion cubic meters of gas.

According to independent international experts, resources of the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea are estimated at 12 billion tons of oil and 6.5 trillion cubic meters of gas. 

In total more than one thousand perspective oil and gas structures and more than 160 fields, both onshore and offshore, have been discovered in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea at present. About one third of them is under commercial development.