Turkmenistan intends to launch the production of Euro-5 quality petrol at the Seidin oil refinery starting from September, the Turkmen Oil and Gas Ministry said in a statement on January 20. Euro-5 fuel reduces the environmental impact of emissions from cars, the statement said.

The country aims to produce Euro-5 fuel in order to improve the competitiveness of Turkmen petrol in export markets. In the past years, destinations for petrol and diesel fuel exports from Turkmenistan have included Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Iraq, among other countries. 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. On the other hand, 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.

American company Westport Trading Europe and Emirati company WTL (FZE) are in charge of upgrading the Seidin oil refinery, which will allow the country to annually produce 500,000 tonnes of Euro-5 petrol, the statement said.