…MOBIL IN TURKMENISTAN.

Turkmen president Saparmurat Niazov met yesterday in Ashgabat with executives of Mobil Oil. The parties then signed a protocol covering oil and gas exploration in Turkmenistan’s portion of the Caspian continental shelf and a plan for possible export pipelines from Turkmenistan to international markets. (UPI, July 22). Turkmenistan seeks to free itself from dependence on Russian export routes and, contrary to Moscow’s claims that Ashgabat supports the Russian doctrine of the indivisibility of the Caspian, is trying unilaterally to develop its national continental shelf resources.

Primakov, Christopher Proclaim Progress on Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.