Global energy policymakers joined the race for Turkmenistan's vast
oil and gas reserves yesterday as two days of intense diplomacy kicked
off in the reclusive Caspian nation.
U.S. Energy Secretary
Sam Bodman, EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs and executives from
BP, Chevron and Russian companies flocked to Ashgabat for an oil
conference marking the end of Turkmenistan's self-imposed isolation.
Russia buys most of the country's
natural
gas
at below market prices but Turkmenistan's new leader, Kurbanguly
Berdymukhamedov, is keen to cooperate closer with the West to ease
reliance on
Russia's pipeline network.
"Turkmenistan
has great potential which must be realized," Steven Mann, U.S. Deputy
Assistant Secretary for South Asian Affairs, told Reuters on the
sidelines of the conference. "In this respect the United States will
always support it."
Turkmenistan, isolated from the world first
under Soviet rule and later during a 21-year reign of former president
Saparmurat Niyazov, is keen to showcase its improving investment
climate and fresh opportunities for global oil companies.
"Turkmenistan's
potential to enter global markets depends on the possibilities of our
gas transport system," Turkmen Oil Minister Baimurad Khojamukhamedov
told foreign investors.
Since Niyazov's death last December, the West, Russia and
China
intensified contacts with Turkmenistan which plans to more than triple
its gas production by 2030 from this year's planned 70-80 billion cubic
meters of gas.
Berdymukhamedov, however, has kept his options
open, maintaining pragmatic relations with both Russia and the West. He
has agreed to build a pipeline that would boost supplies to Russia
while tentatively agreeing to a U.S.-backed plan for a trans-Caspian
pipeline which is designed to ease Europe's dependence on Russian gas
imports.