TURKMENISTAN TO BUILD $1 BILLION OIL REFINERY

Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov announced on 4 March that his country plans to invest more than $1 billion in the reconstruction of the Seidi oil refinery in eastern Turkmenistan. According to Niyazov, the resulting installation will be "the largest facility in the country, with a production capacity of 6 million to 7 million tons of oil each year". The government's agent for the project will be Israel's Merkhav, which oversaw the reconstruction of a refinery in the port city of Turkmenbashi. Estimated investment in the Turkmenbashi project, completed in 2001, was between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.