GASOLINE PRICES IN TURKMENISTAN AND THE WORLD: ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ASPECTS

Turkmenistan ranks seventh in the Global petrol prices ranking with the lowest gasoline price in Central Asia.

The retail fuel prices around the world are an object of increased attention from the population, since they have a significant impact on the cost of other goods, including socially significant food products and services. The rise in gasoline prices threatens to increase the price of other goods, triggering inflationary processes along the entire chain of production, transportation, storage, and sale of goods. Therefore, some economists believe that gasoline is directly included in the consumer basket. Pricing is influenced by a number of internal and external factors - from global oil prices to the tax policy of an individual state.

The consistently low price of gasoline in Turkmenistan is due to both the energy potential of the country, which has world reserves of hydrocarbons, and the priorities of its social policy. The country produces and refines significant volumes of oil, some of which is exported to other countries. As reported at the recent 4th meeting of the Energy Ministers of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), over the past three years, about 20.7 million tons of Turkmen crude oil and oil products have been transported to world markets via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline.

The needs of the domestic market of Turkmenistan are met by modern oil and gas refineries created over the years of independence, among which the world's first plant for the production of environmentally friendly gasoline from natural gas occupies a special place. The production capacity of this enterprise is designed to process 1.785 billion cubic meters of gas per year and produce 600 thousand tons of Euro-5 gasoline, 12 thousand tons of diesel fuel, and 115 thousand tons of LNG per year.

At a working meeting held in May this year at the plant for the production of gasoline from natural gas, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted that the enterprise produces 1,800 tons of gasoline daily. These high-quality products that meet environmental standards are supplied to Afghanistan and European countries on the basis of signed contracts. Work is also underway to build the second stage of the plant.

Ogulgozel Rejepova

Gasoline prices in Turkmenistan and the world: economic and social aspects