Turkmenistan News

Editor's Note: This article was written by energy journalist and government energy adviser John C.K. Daly of OilPrice.com , which offers free information and analysis on energy and commodities.

Turkmenistan and Iran are exploring ways to increase security and energy cooperation.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Petro Poroshenko and Turkmenistan's Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov agreed to create a hotline between the two ministries to settle the pressing matters of bilateral relations.

Prominent human rights advocates want the United States to consider invoking the Jackson-Vanik amendment against Turkmenistan over Ashgabat's refusal to let hundreds of young scholars leave the country to pursue their studies.

Turkmenistan may be energy rich, but the coffers of some municipal governments seem to be running dry.

OJSC Zarubezhneft hopes by the end of the year to close a buy-sell transaction for 51% in the development of Block N21 in Turkmenistan from Itera by the end of the year, Zarubezhneft's head, Nikolai Brunich, told journalists.

Officials from the Turkmenistan State Border Service completed a 15-day training course on patrol and covert surveillance skills and techniques on the Turkmen-Afghan border on 16 November.

Profit fell 48 percent to 296.2 billion rubles , from 573.7 billion rubles during the same period in 2008, the gas export monopoly said in a statement.

Hopes for uncensored web access further threatened as international resource centres close.

Turkmenistan has completed the construction of a gas pipeline to Iran. Specialists from the state-owned company Turkmengaz reported to Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov on Wednesday that the Dovletabad-Salyp Yar pipeline was ready to be filled with gas, national television said.

South Korea and Turkmenistan agreed to sign a double-taxation avoidance pact in a bid to promote bilateral investment and other exchanges, the Finance Ministry said on Monday.

Dubai's state-owned Emirates National Oil Company is to acquire full control of Dragon Oil, a company operating almost exclusively in the Turkmen portion of the Caspian Sea.

A former chief of staff of deceased president Saparmurat Niyazov has died in prison.

Landing in Ashgabat, there's no sign telling you where you are. No "Welcome to Ashgabat", no "Ashgabat International Airport, Terminal One" or anything of the sort.

TURKMENISTAN: IS BERDYMUKHAMEDOV SPINNING A WEB FANTASY? 11/02/09 In the hands of the Turkmen people, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov's regime tends to view the Internet as a dangerous implement.

Turkmenistan marks the18th anniversary of the proclamation of its independence. Sovereighty was proclaimed on the strength of the results of a country-wide referendum held in 1991 in the then Soviet Republic of Turkmenistan.

It's interesting that the local strongmen have thrown so much mud at this guy. If he was a 53-year-old biologist who really WAS a dope-smuggling, arms-smuggling hooligan who beat up strangers in the street at random, that would be super-interesting. Right now he's just another jailed martyr whose friends and relatives have been chased offshore.

Human rights groups are calling for top-level Western and Russian diplomatic intervention to halt the politically motivated prosecution of an environmental activist in Turkmenistan.

Image from the 2009 edition of "The Stars My Destination", a classic American science fiction novel by Alfred Bester about the impact of technology upon human freedom.

Gazprom remains prepared to resume natural gas purchases from Turkmenistan, but after weeks of maneuvering, company officials have been unable to reach agreement with Turkmen leaders.