MOSCOW (TASS) — Russia’s Rosneft, Lukoil and Gazprom companies have shown interest in developing oil and gas fields in Turkmenistan, First Deputy Head of the Russian Government Office Sergei Prikhodko told reporters.

He noted that the energy sector and, in particular, the gas industry created during the Soviet era was an important area of cooperation between the two countries, whose potential needs to be developed.

Mutual interest in close cooperation in the gas sector was enshrined in the protocol of the meeting of the bilateral intergovernmental commission held on May 7, 2019. The parties also highlighted their intention to make joint efforts to intensify it.

Prikhodko recalled that Russia’s Transneft provided oil transportation services to Turkmenistan’s companies. In 2011, the two sides signed an agreement on the transit of Turkmen oil along the Makhachkala-Novorossiysk route, with 1.91 mln tonnes transported from 2011 to 2018. Plans are in store to transport 2.26 mln tonnes of oil from Turkmenistan in 2019.

Besides, Tatneft is actively working in the Turkmen market, providing a wide range of services to increase oil recovery from the existing well stock and further use the potential for oil production.

In June 2019, Tatneft signed a memorandum of understanding with the Turkmenneft state concern to intensify cooperation in the field of drilling oil and gas wells and introduce modern technologies there.