British auditors Gaffney, Cline and Associates have reported that Turkmenistan's South Iolotan natural gas field is the world's second largest, estimated to hold up to 21.2 trillion cubic meters of natural gas.
In 2008 Gaffney, Cline and Associates made a previous estimate placing South Iolotan's natural gas reserves at between 4 trillion and 14 trillion cubic meters, which was widely derided at the time but in hindsight seems to have been on the conservative side.
Gaffney, Cline and Associates business development manager Jim Gillett remarked, "Turkmenistan's gas reserves are more than enough for any potential demand over the foreseeable future, whether it be from China, Russia, Iran or Europe. The current estimated reserves for both South Iolotan and Yashlar may well increase still further as additional data is acquired." Gaffney, Cline and Associates estimate that Yashlar, a separate natural gas field, could contain between 1.45 and 5 trillion cubic meters.
The new audited reserves put South Iolotan in second place in the world after the Persian Gulf's South / North Pars natural gas field and is larger than Russian state owned Gazprom's Urengoy natural gas field, containing an estimated 7 trillion cubic meters of reserves, Moscow's Kommersant business newspaper reported.
By. Charles Kennedy, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com
Charles is a writer for Oilprice.com More