Turkmenistan to build new naval base

The President of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov, recently announced that the country would build a new naval base on the Caspian Sea.

President Berdymukhamedov said that the base would be built at Turkmenbashi, a port city.

According to a report by the Associated Press, the joint naval and coast guard base will have two armed missile ships and a number of cutters. Turkmenisan’s coast guard has a fleet of 16 patrol boats.

It is feared that the plans to build the naval base will cause more dispute over the area’s hydrocarbon fields. The Caspian is rich in hydrocarbon resources and there is fierce competition amongst the governments of Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia over access to the resources. The Caspian Sea is estimated to contain up to 33 billion barrels of proven oil reserves.
 

Source: Baird Maritime