Turkmenistan’s oil production grew by 5.2% y/y in 2015, the Oil and Gas Ministry of Turkmenistan said in a statement on January 9. The ministry didn't specify the absolute figure for oil output.

The ministry previously attributed growing oil production rates to an increase in investment in the country’s oil, gas and energy sector, which grew by 42.3% y/y to TMT6,726mn (€1,759.5mn) in the first nine months of 2015. Turkmen authorities expected foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country’s oil and gas industry to grow by 20% y/y in 2015, news website AKIpress.com reported earlier. At the same time, the growth in production is partially due to an increase in the number of active oil wells in the country - eight new production wells started operating in the first half of 2015, alongside 34 new exploration wells, news website Trend.az reported in August.

Production of gasoline, kerosene, lubricants, petroleum coke and polypropylene grew by 0.1% in 2015, while production of oil bitumen grew by 21.2% and liquefied gas by 0.6%, the ministry’s said.

Among other developments, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov signed a decree to form a new national oil and gas company, which will be classified as a "closed joint stock company", the ministry said in another statement on the same day. The new company will help the country "implement the task of exploring, mining, and processing the country's hydrocarbon resources, as well as deliver the products to the domestic and foreign markets, in accordance with the state Turkmen Oil and Gas Industry Development Program for 2030”, the statement reads.

At the same time, the Turkmen president appointed Myratgeldi Meredov as oil and gas minister, replacing Mukhammetnur Khalylov, who, in turn, was appointed as director of the Academic and Research Institute of Natural Gas under the state gas company Turkmengaz, the statement said. The authorities provided no reasoning for the reshuffle.

The country is currently dealing with trouble stemming from a slowdown of the hydrocarbons sector as falling oil prices are affecting the monetary value of the country’s natural gas and oil exports. The IMF projected the country’s exports of hydrocarbons to decrease to $13,954mn in 2015 from $18,535mn in 2014.