EASTWARD:

At the second meeting of the Japan-Turkmenistan Economic Cooperation Commission, held in Ashgabat September 8, the Turkmen side offered eight oil and gas fields, reportedly adding up to 40,000 square kilometers, for joint exploration and development. Turkmen enterprises have reported oil and gas finds in that area, particularly on the right bank of Amu Darya river. The sides also discussed the feasibility study, now being conducted by Mitsubishi together with China’s National Oil Corporation and Exxon (US), on a pipeline from Turkmenistan to a sea terminal in East China, destined primarily to supply Japan with Turkmen gas. The long-term project envisages an 8,000 kilometer pipeline with an annual throughput capacity of 20 billion cubic meters, to be completed no earlier than the year 2005, at a cost of $10 to 12 billion. (15)

Southward: