Turkmenistan's gas production tops 77.6 bln cubic meters, oil 8.3 mln tonnes in 2024 - official

ASHGABAT. Feb 10 (Interfax) - Turkmenistan saw its industrial sector grow in 2024, having produced more than 77.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas and more than 8.3 million tonnes of oil, the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper reported on Saturday, citing State Statistics Committee chairman Dovletgeldi Amanmukhammedov.

"The industrial sector grew steadily throughout 2024. Thus, natural gas production stood at 77,623,100,000 cubic meters; oil, at 8,279,700 tonnes," Amanmukhammedov said at a government meeting on the 2024 socio-economic results last Friday.

He did not cite comparable data with last year's level.

"Compared with 2023, national production of bitumen increased by 10.2%, petrol by 4.8%, fuel oil by 8.2%, and diesel fuel by 0.6%," he said.

This year Turkmenistan must work further to develop its oil and gas industry to modern standards, reliably supply domestic and foreign consumers with natural gas, and continue the adoption of advanced technologies to increase the industry's production capacity, Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov said.

"The commercial exploration of the Galkynysh gas field should intensify and the pace of building the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, especially its key [Afghan] Serhetabat-Herat section, accelerate," Berdimukhamedov said.

It was also important to explore rich and prospective oil deposits and increase the national output of refined oil products, he said.

Berdimuhamedov also instructed his vice premier to attach particular importance to boosting the capacity of the Turkmenbashy Oil Processing Complex and Seidinsky Oil Refinery, speed up the hydrocarbon exploration process and geotechnical investigation to identify deposits of solid minerals, rare earth elements and underground waters, the newspaper said.

He also issued an instruction to systemically upskill oil and gas specialists, it said.