President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on Tuesday held a working meeting via video link with the participation of management of the country's fuel and energy complex, TDH news agency reports.
During the meeting, the heads of Türkmengaz (Turkmen Gas) and Türkmennebit (Turkmen Oil) state concerns, Türkmengeologiýa (Turkmen Geology) State Corporation, Turkmenbashi Complex of Oil Refineries (TCOR), as well as Rector of the International Oil and Gas University of Turkmenistan reported on activities of the entities under their supervision.
Focusing on the importance of developing new markets for oil and petrochemical products, as well as promising gas export routes, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted the importance of using the design capacity of the TCOR at the expense of crude oil produced under Production Sharing Agreements.
In this regard, the issues of purchasing oil at market prices and processing it in economically viable conditions, exporting produced oil products and receiving additional profits from them, should be resolved on a satisfactory basis, Turkmen President added.
Despite the presence in the country of the International University of Oil and Gas equipped with the latest technologies, as well as provision of practical, educational and methodological training to workers during the construction of the complex’s enterprises, these oil and gas enterprises lack highly qualified specialists, the Head of State continued.
The level of personnel training remains low, and this situation cannot be tolerated, Turkmen President stressed.
Noting the increase of expenditures for the extraction and processing of hydrocarbon resources and cost of production, the Head of State demanded Vice-Premier Myratgeldi Meredov to carry out necessary measures to reduce these indicators.
Turkmen President also highlighted that in the oil and gas sphere a digital tender platform for holding tenders for the purchase of products, relevant works and services has not yet been launched and demanded the Vice-Premier to implement relevant measures in this direction.
The Head of State drew attention to the importance of increasing the inflow of funds by increasing the volume of sales of manufactured products, including in freely convertible foreign currency.
In this regard, President Berdimuhamedov instructed to conduct a thorough analysis of the purchase prices of imported goods and raw materials, to ensure that they do not exceed prices for other countries of the region, and to establish direct cooperation with manufacturers of products necessary for the domestic fuel and energy complex.
During the meeting, the Head of State instructed Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Gadyrgeldi Mushshikov to keep under control the financial condition of oil and gas enterprises and state departments. Turkmen President also instructed the country's Prosecutor General Batyr Atdayev to continue analyzing the financial and economic indicators of the country’s oil and gas complex.
For the shortcomings in their work, President of Turkmenistan announced severe reprimands to the Vice-Premier Myratgeldi Meredov, the heads of Türkmennebit and Türkmengaz state concerns, the head of Türkmengeologiýa SC and the General Director of the TCOR.