Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has appointed Myratgeldi Meredov as deputy prime minister in charge of the fuel and energy complex, the Turkmen government said in a message.

Prior to this, Myratgeldi Meredov was the department head at the Turkmen Cabinet of Ministers.

The decision was made at the last government meeting. Noting that a number of unresolved issues accumulated in the oil and gas industry, the Turkmen president gave a number of instructions regarding the increase of oil production and its processing in the country.

'It is necessary to actively develop the natural gas processing industry to establish ammonia, carbamide and technical carbon production, as well as to systematically increase the production of liquefied gas, which is in great demand in global markets, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said.

It was also said that it is necessary to continue work on the technical re-equipment of spheres of the fuel and energy complex, accelerate construction of plants, development and commissioning of newly discovered oil and gas fields.

Maksat Babayev, former deputy prime minister in charge of the fuel and energy complex, will be appointed to the post related to the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline.

Turkmenistan holds one of the key positions in the supply of natural gas in the region, which is exported to China and Iran.

The world's second largest gas field, Galkynysh, is located in eastern Turkmenistan. According to an audit held by the UK's Gaffney, Cline & Associates, reserves of the Turkmen Galkynysh field, together with reserves of the Yashlar and Garakel fields, exceed 27 trillion cubic meters of gas.

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