TURKMENISTAN - The Oil Producers

Less than half of the country's oil output is being produced by Turkmen companies grouped under the state's NOC, Turkmenneft. Their total output is averaging about 48,000 b/d, compared with 51,000 b/d being produced by joint ventures involving foreign companies.

The government agencies responsible for the hydrocarbon sector are: Turkmenneft for oil production, Turkmengaz for natural gas operations and Turkmengeologiya for exploration. The main oilfields are Kotur Tepe and Nebit Dag. The main gas fields are in the Amu Darya region in the east, which include two supergiants, Dauletabad and Donmez, and nine giant fields. The Kopet Dag Trough is the location of additional gas fields.

Turkmenneft is also responsible, through Turkmenneftigas, for the country's oil refining sector, which consists of two main refineries: Chardzhou with a capacity of 120,500 b/d; and Turkmenbashi, formerly Krasnovodsk, with a capacity of 116,500 b/d (see Downstream Trends)

In February 1998, Turkmenneft and Schlumberger signed a long-term contract on co-operative efforts to help the Turkmen companies increase oil production in western Turkmenistan. Turkmenneft later invited Schlumberger to participate in an international tender on the development of Caspian Sea oilfields.

The contract covered operations in the Koturdepe, South Kamyshldzha and Koperdzhe oilfields. Schlumberger was to take part in servicing the fields'

wells and to provide necessary equipment, payment for which was to be made in hard currency.

Ashgabat's plan is for the Turkmen companies to raise their oil production to about 100,000 b/d by 2000. This target would be reached if the work of Schlumberger is not hindered by government interference and if Turkmenneft pays the company on time. In recent years, foreign companies faced several problems with the government as in the case of Bridas of Argentina and the Dutch firm Larmag (see below). Now the Ashgabat government has serious cash flow problems, with the economic collapse in Russia also having affected the Central Asian republics.