Turkmenistan plans to triple oil refining by 2030

Plans to build a revolutionary new oil refinery in western Turkmenistan have begun.

Japan's JGC Corp has been chosen to prepare a feasibility study for the new oil refinery, which would hope to see oil products exports rise 15 per cent per year.

Famed for its wide expertise in business and technology, the company was chosen for being "a world-class contractor, solution provider and your partner for success".

If the study is successful, construction works would start in 2015.

The plant would be completely unique – with incredibly ambitious aims to triple oil refining by 2030.

"This will be a completely new refinery, whose output will meet rigid international technological standards," Tachberdy Tagiyev, general director of the state-run Turkmenbashi Oil Processing Plants Holding Company, told an energy conference.

The general director also revealed the location of the proposed plant, saying that it would be built in the town of Okarem in the Balkan region near the Caspian Sea.

This new, third refinery, is thought to have an initial capacity of three million tonnes of crude a year, which would be set to rise to five million tonnes before 2030.

Turkmenistan is the world's fourth-largest holder of natural gas reserves, making it the perfect home for this radical project.

In addition, Turkmenistan also boasts ample reserves of crude-oil.

The state set this ambitious target last March, where it set out its plans to build three new oil refineries and boost capacity at its two existing plants by 2030.

The forward-thinking state is highly in demand, with several international majors, including Total, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil, vying for some of the 32 licensed blocks that Turkmenistan holds within its portion of the Caspian Sea.

Despite many foreign companies using the state for drilling, state oil firm Turkmenneft remains the main producer in the country.

Posted by Claire Manning