ISLAMABAD – *Turkmenistan to boost exports and eventually allow energy andelectricity supplies to Pakistan*.
The Central Asian nation, which sits on the world’s fourth-biggest naturalgas reserves, has been hit hard by the plunge in global hydrocarbon pricesand is seeking to diversify exports in order to increase its hard currencyearnings.
Launching the upgraded gas- and steam-turbine plant in the southern Maryprovince, Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said it would boostpower exports by 3 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) from the current 3.3 blnkWh a year.
“In the future, we plan to build a gas turbine power plant on theTurkmen-Afghan border together with Japan’s Sumitomo,” he said.
In addition to its current customers — Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey —Ashgabat plans to tap Pakistan’s market by building a power transmissionline through Afghanistan, where it is already laying a gas pipeline in thesame direction.
The Mary power plant upgrade, carried out by Turkey’s Calik Holdingtogether with United States’ General Electric, cost $1.2 billion, agovernment source said.