Monday, May 28, 2012 -
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has fired his energy chief over poor performance of his duties, state media said on Monday.
Minister of Oil, Gas, and Mineral Resources Bayramgeldi Nedirov was “dismissed for serious shortcomings in work”, the government-run news agency Turkmenistan.ru reported.
Nedirov is the fifth oil and gas chief to be fired by in five years. The outgoing official was immediately replaced by Kakageldi Abdyllaev who served as deputy chairman of state-controlled oil and gas company Turkmengaz, Turkmenistan.ru said.
Berdimuhamedov also sacked the other four energy heads for incompetence.
"Nedirov did not carry out orders, which inflicted damage on the state economy. Due to this, I am letting him go," the head of state was shown Friday on government TV as saying, the Reuters news agency reported.
No further details have been divulged.
Just two days earlier, the Ashgabat government finalized a landmark gas supply deal with Pakistan and India for the planned Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline that is backed by the United States.
Turkmenistan has fabulous amounts of natural gas. The country ranks fourth in the world for gas reserves and is Central Asia’s largest exporter of the product.
Foreign countries are looking into doing business with the reclusive and geographically isolated Central Asian republic, but the lack of transparency makes it difficult to gain a foothold.
Nedirov took the top energy position in summer 2008, almost two years after Berdimuhamedov assumed leadership of the former Soviet republic with the death in office of his predecessor Saparmurat Niyazov.