Turkmen President Reappoints Energy Chiefs

Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, seen here signing the East-West gas trunk pipeline in Shatlyk in May 2010, was reelected to a second term earlier this month.

Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has opted to keep his top energy officials in their current jobs at the start of his second presidential term.

Turkmen state-run media report that Deputy Prime Minister Baimyrat Hojamukhamedov was reappointed as Turkmenistan’s senior energy industry official, while Oil and Gas Minister Bairamgeldy Nedirov was also being retained in the job he has held since August 2008.

Berdymukhammedov, who was reelected earlier this month to a second five-year term in office, has urged his government to accelerate oil- and gas-field developments and attract foreign investment to the sector.

Turkmenistan, a Central Asian country of more than 5 million people, is believed to hold more than 4 percent of the world’s natural gas reserves.

Based on Reuters and Turkmenistan.ru reporting