“…China National Petroleum Corporation, South Korea’s LG International and UAE-based Petrofac International are among the firms set to develop the South Yolotan gas field, Turkmenistan’s state information agency said late Tuesday.

“This event marks one more step on the path to the realization of Turkmenistan’s energy strategy,” the agency said in a statement posted on the website of the secretive, energy-rich state’s website.

“The largest projects of regional and world significance have been given a start,” it added.

Turkmen officials say that South Yolotan holds at least four to six trillion cubic metres of gas and possibly as much as 14 trillion, numbers that have been confirmed by Gaffney, Cline and Associates, a British energy consulting firm.

Turkmenistan’s then-president Saparmurat Niyazov announced the discovery of the field in the east of the country in 2006, saying at the time that it was among the world’s largest.

Under the contracts signed with Turkmenistan’s state energy company Turkmengaz, the companies will develop the field and build gas plants.

UAE-based Gulf Oil and Gaz Fze will build drilling facilities to secure annual production of 20 billion cubic metres of gas under one of the contracts, worth up to 1.15 billion dollars.

CNPC Chuanqing Drilling Engineering Company will produce 10 billion cubic metres of gas a year under a contract worth just over three billion dollars.

The awarding of the contracts comes as companies from Asia, the West and Russia have all been seeking to gain a foothold in one of the world’s most promising gas markets.

China has extended a 4-billion-dollar credit to Ashgabat in a bid for access to South Yolotan and its leader Hu Jintao earlier this month flew to Turkmenistan to unveil a landmark pipeline to transport Turkmen gas to China.

Earlier this month, Ashgabat and Moscow agreed to resume Turkmen gas supplies after an eight-month interruption raised questions about Moscow’s sway in Turkmenistan.