Gaffney, Cline & Associates, the auditors of Turkmenistan’s South Iolotan offshore gas field, have con firmed that the field is the second-largest in the world behind Iran’s South Pars.
The firm has now releseased its audited estimate of South Iolotan’s reserves estimate of 13.1 trillion and 21.2 trillion cubic metres (tcm) of natural gas, according to a Reuters report.
“Turkmenistan’s gas reserves are more than enough for any potential demand over the foreseeable future, whether it be from China, Russia, Iran or Europe,” Jim Gillett, GCA’s business development manager, told Reuters.
Turkmenistan aims to export 180 billion cubic metres of gas by 2030, a significant amount of which will go to meeting China’s burgeoning demand for fossil fuels, with enough to spare to export to more profitable European markets, if the necessary infratructure can be put in place.
However the prospects for a trans-Caspian pipeline remain mixed, with the acquisition of sufficient feedstock for the giant Nabucco pipeline still ongoing and alternatives mired in political wrangling.
CNPC, Petrofac, LG International and Hyundai Engineering won $9.7 billion worth of contracts in 2009 to develop the field.Â
