Turkmenistan: World’s Second Largest Holder of Gas Reserves

nCa Report

Ashgabat, 24 October 2008 (nCa) --- After the independent certification of the Osman-Yoloton and Yashlar natural gas fields in eastern Turkmenistan, it is clear that Turkmenistan is the second largest holder of gas reserves in the world, with some 28 trillion cubic meters of proven gas reserves.

The impression, created and sustained by some quarters, lingered for a long time that Turkmenistan has less than 3 trillion cubic meters of gas reserves. There were several reasons for this:

• Russia media and Gazprom wanted to convince the world that they have already bought whatever gas is available in Turkmenistan, and no one should waster their time in courting Turkmenistan.
  

• Some western countries and companies, led by the United States, and heavily dependent on the erratic BP Statistical Review, were pulling futilely at the other end of the rope.
  

• Despite ample evidence, it never occurred to anyone that Turkmenistan could be telling the truth. No one was willing to give even the slightest benefit of doubt to Turkmenistan.

 

The following table shows that Turkmenistan has the world’s second largest proves gas reserves:

 

Ranking of Countries by Proven Gas Reserves

 

Rank	Country	Proven Gas Reserves (Trillion Cubic Meters)	Date of estimate
1	Russia	47.57	2006 est
2	Turkmenistan	28.00	2008 tentative est (nCa)
3	Iran	26.37	2006
4	Qatar	25.79	2007 est
5	Saudi Arabia	6.57	2006 est
6	United Arab Emirates	5.82	2006 est
7	United States	5.55	2006 est
8	Nigeria	5.02	2006 est
9	Algeria	4.36	2006 est
10	Venezuela	4.11	2006 est
11	European Union	3.31	2006 est

Source: Wikepedia / nCa

 

It is possible that with certification of more fields and discovery of new deposits, Turkmenistan could well emerge as the top reserve holder of natural gas in the world.

 

A comparison of the top ten gas fields in the world indicates that Osman-South Yoloton is the third largest gas field in the world:

 

Ten Largest Gas Fields in the World

 

Rank	Field	Country	Recoverable Reserve (Trillion Cubic Meters)
1	South Pars / North Dome	Iran / Qatar	34.9
2	Urengoy	Russia	6.28
3	Osman-South Yoloton	Turkmenistan	6.0 (best estimate, GCA, Oct 2008)
4	Yamburg	Russia	3.9
5	Hassi R’Mel	Algeria	3.4
6	Shtokman	Russia	3.12
7	Zapolyarnoye	Russia	2.69
8	Hugoton	USA	2.29
9	Groningen	Netherlands	2.0
10	Bonavenko	Russia	1.98

Source: Wikipedia / nCa