UNIPATH STAFF
Turkmenistan is promoting its role as a potential guarantor of regional energy security by highlighting its abundance of accessible natural gas.
In late March 2022, Ashgabat hosted the International Investment Forum for Attracting Foreign Investments to the Oil and Gas Sector of Turkmenistan.
President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov provided opening remarks to entice petroleum-exporting countries like the United Arab Emirates to provide more capital and expertise to develop the country’s hydrocarbon industry.
Attendees at the conference stressed the need for reliable energy uninterrupted by conflict and embargoes. Turkmenistan possesses one of the world’s largest reserves of natural gas and aims to diversify transport and delivery away from reliance on Soviet-era routes centered on Russia.
This diversification strategy includes a network of pipelines that crosses Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan on its way to China. An equally ambitious project called the Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India Pipeline has faced years of delays because of instability caused by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Sources: Business Turkmenistan, Natural Gas World