Turkey, Japan sign $1.7b deal with Turkmenistan

OWADAN-DEPE, Turkmenistan, Aug 26 (Reuters): Turkmenistan, holder of the world's fourth-largest natural gas reserves, signed a $1.7 billion deal with a Turkish-Japanese consortium on Tuesday to build a gas-to-liquids plant as part of its strategy to maximise revenues from its gas riches.
The signing ceremony was overseen by autocratic Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who enjoys sweeping powers in his Central Asian nation of 5.5 million people.
"This is the first gas processing facility in the world which will employ a high-end technology to process natural gas into gasoline," he said at a lavish ceremony in a white hangar decorated with crystal-and-gold chandeliers set up in a desert area near the capital Ashgabat.
The project will be implemented by Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Turkey's Ronesans Endustri Tesisleri.
"It will produce here annually 600,000 tonnes of gasoline with octane rating of 92. The cost of the project is estimated at $1.7 billion," Berdymukhamedov said to rapturous applause of the local diplomatic corps and his government.
The plant will process annually 1.785 billion cubic metres of natural gas, Berdymukhamedov said.