Turkmenistan's ex-president says diversifying gas exports is 'primary goal'

Former Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said that his country's "primary goal" was to diversify exports of its enormous gas reserves, the world's fourth largest, according to the transcript of an interview published on Sunday.

A mostly desert country of around 7 million, Turkmenistan's gas exports have been limited by a lack of pipeline infrastructure. Most of the gas it sells overseas goes to China.

Berdymukhamedov served as president from 2007 to 2022, when he stepped down in favour of his son, Serdar. He remains influential as Turkmenistan's "National Leader".

In an interview with Saudi broadcaster Al Arabiya published by Turkmen state media, Berdymukhamedov said that international companies were welcome to participate in the TAPI pipeline project, which would carry the country's gas to energy-hungry markets in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.

Turkmenistan says it will finish the first leg of the pipeline, to the Afghan city of Herat, around the end of 2026. No plans have been announced to extend the pipeline further south.

The project, which Berdymukhamedov said is backed by the United States, would have to overcome longstanding tensions between Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India, with bouts of lethal fighting breaking out on the countries' shared borders in the past year.

Berdymukhamedov also said that Turkmenistan supports the proposed Trans-Caspian Pipeline, which would carry the country's gas to Europe via the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan and Turkey, but that issues with Azerbaijan around the delimitation of the Caspian seabed must be solved before work can begin.

The former president was speaking during a visit to the U.S., which has in recent months courted the countries of Central Asia, where Russia and China have traditionally enjoyed primacy.

-Reporting by Marat Gurt, Writing by Felix Light; Editing by Kirsten Donovan/Reuters