TURKMEN OIL-REFINING COMPLEX UNDERGOES MODERNIZATION.

Japan’s Chioda and Nichimen and Turkey’s Gama petrochemical companies have completed the reconstruction and modernization of the catalytic reforming plant in the city of Turkmenbashi at a cost of $125 million. The plant is one of three international investment projects at Turkmenistan’s largest oil-refining complex, situated in that city (formerly Krasnovodsk) on the Caspian Sea. The other two parts are a catalytic cracking plant and a lubricating oil plant costing $ 176 million and $ 165 million, respectively, currently under construction by Germany’s Mannesmann and France’s Technip as project leaders. At an overall cost of more than $500 million, all financed by the foreign partners, the Turkmenbashi complex represents the largest foreign investment in Turkmenistan thus far. Exploration of the country’s untapped offshore oil wealth is only beginning.(International Petroleum Agency, August 29)

Tajik ex-Leaders in Moscow Seek New Role in Clan Competition.