|
|
Article: Turkmenistan - The Energy Base
- Article from:
- APS Review Downstream Trends
- Article date:
- September 7, 1998
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Input Solutions. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Turkmenistan is rich in energy resources and has a population of about 4.4 million in a territory roughly the size of Spain. The landlocked country has the third or fourth biggest reserves of gas in the world and huge but largely untapped oil resources. It is largely self-sufficient in energy, except for the import of small amounts of coal, and it exports gas as well as refined products.
Yet most of Turkmenistan's population remains poor, and socio-economic conditions have deteriorated severely through the 1990s. Policies adopted by the regime of President Saparmurat Niyazov have failed to create wealth on the scale envisaged when Turkmenistan became independent in ...