Friday 15 July 2011

Petronas opens Turkmen terminal

Malyaisan state-run company Petronas has officially launched its Kiyanly gas treatment plant and onshore gas terminal in Turkemenistan.

Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov opened the new plant and terminal in an official ceremony yesterday on the shores of the Caspian Sea, about 600 kilometres from the Turkmen capital Ashgabat.

The facilities consist of two process trains, with a combined production capacity of up to 500 million cubic feet per day, and a 53 kilometre pipeline that links the terminal with the export pipeline of Central Asia 3.

Malaysian national news agency Bernama quoted Najib as saying that Petronas had invested $5.2 billion in building the new facilities.

"We are honoured by the trust the Government of Turkmenistan has shown in our national oil and gas company, Petronas, in enabling them to take forward this significant development," Najib said.

“Petronas has also been able to help lay the foundations of the long-term prosperity of Turkmenistan's oil and gas industry beyond simply realising immediate value from the natural wealth of the land."

Najib said the signing of a gas sales agreement between the two countries yesterday would facilitate the commercialisation of gas from the new facilities.