TURKMENISTAN - LPG Output & Exports.

Since independence, LPS production capacities have increased almost 20 times thanks to installation of new technological units at the Turkmenbashi complex and gas fields in the east of Turkmenistan. In particular, gas from the abundant reserves of Zaunguz Karakum fields is processed at the Nayyp gas processing plant. Three industrial units fitted with modern equipment and with the total capacity of 112,500 tons/year of LPG were built there by Canadian and Italian companies. By 2020, Turkmenistan intends to increase the LPG production to more than 2.2 million tons/year.

A number of large investment projects will be implemented to this effect. They include a new gas processing plant being built by Canadian firms at the eastern field of Bagaja. Another modern gas processing plant will be commissioned on the right side bank of the Amu Darya River.

Turkmenistan exports LPG to Iran, Armenia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Butane Int'l, Iran's largest private LPG distributor and exporter, in May 2006 said rising demand for LPG in Armenia, Afghanistan and Iraq put Iran at the centre of the supply chain because of its extensive rail infrastructure and common border with Turkmenistan.

Butane Int'l imports 420,000 t/y of Turkmen LPG, of which 250,000 t/y are handled on behalf of PCCI, the export arm of Iran's state-owned National Petrochemical Co. (NPC). Turkmen LPG is mostly sourced from Krasnovodsk before being shipped to an import terminal in Mashhad, eastern Iran.

Iran has over the last year developed its rail infrastructure to enable delivery of LPG by rail from Mashhad to Bandar Abbas, Iran's largest commercial port in the Persian Gulf.

Butane Int'l has a fleet of 120 LPG railcars, with more than 300 LPG trucks used for transport by road. Butane Int'l has had a contract with TurkmNafteGaz since 2003 for the import of over 120,000 t/y of LPG which the Iranian firm exports to neighbouring countries. Afghanistan absorbs as much as 60,000 t/y of LPG from Turkmenistan. The product is mostly shipped from Iran to the western Afghan city of Herat. Supplies from Afghanistan of Turkmen LPG compete with imports of the product from Uzbekistan. Butane Afghanistan is the LPG importing company. Pakgas of Armenia imports a further 24,000 t/y of Turkmen LPG, transiting through northern Iran, while Pakistan buys much smaller volumes of around 2,000 t/y. (Butane Int'l is part of Butane Co. The firm controls about 25% of Iran's LPG market. Iran consumes 2m t/y of LPG while national production is around 3.504m t/y).