Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has "placed emphasis on boosting cooperation with foreign states and international companies" as they are strategic for the country's oil and gas sphere, the ministry said in a statement.
In August Berdymukhamedov ordered his nation's fuel and energy sector managers to speed up development of oil and gas fields on the Caspian Sea shelf.
Turkmenistan's Caspian Sea sector is divided into 32 blocks. Companies which have signed a production-sharing contract with the Turkmenistan government usually get a license for exploratory work at one of the blocks for six years. If the company discovers hydrocarbons, it receives a commercial production license for 25 years.
