Turkmenistan is implementing large-scale projects to develop the country’s giant gas field Galkynysh, reports AzerNews.

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov announced about this in his message to participants of the international conference Oil and Gas of Turkmenistan (OGT 2016), which opened on December 7.

Berdimuhamedov noted that construction of new plants for natural gas processing and production of goods highly demanded in global markets are also being carried out in the country.

He said that great work has been done to extract, process, stably and reliably deliver the hydrocarbon resources to consumers.

Moreover, extensive work is underway on diversification of routes for transportation of Turkmen natural gas to global markets.

Implementation of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project is an obvious proof of this work, according to the Turkmen president’s message.

“I am confident about special importance of this project from an economic point of view for neighboring and other states in the region,” noted Berdimuhamedov.

Galkynysh field will provide natural gas for TAPI. The main document for TAPI, called the Ashgabat Interstate Agreement, was signed in 2010. The groundbreaking ceremony for TAPI’s Turkmen section was held in mid-December 2015. The project is expected to be completed in late 2019.

he project’s preliminary cost is estimated at $10 billion. The Turkmen government reported earlier that the state concern Turkmengaz would be the main investor for the TAPI project.

Turkmenistan started construction of its section of TAPI pipeline in December 2015. The project is expected to be completed in late 2019.