More than 35 technical specialists in Ashgabat have been trained to use satellite data to detect and analyse methane emissions in the oil and gas sector, reported Turkmenportal.com.
The two-day training on November 4–5 was run by the UN Environment Programme’s International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) together with Carbon Limits. It was supported by the project “European Union for Green Development of Turkmenistan: Policy Dialogue and Climate Action 2024–2029.” The EU and the German Federal Foreign Office co-finance the project, and GIZ implements it.
Participants came from the state concerns Turkmengas and Turkmennebit, the Natural Gas Research Institute, the ministries of environmental protection and energy, and the National Space Agency. They learned to work with UNEP’s MARS satellite alert system and to interpret methane plumes on high-resolution images. They also practised ranking the largest leaks for quick repair and comparing satellite data with ground measurements. A Turkmengas specialist said the system directly shortens the time from detecting a leak to fixing it.
Turkmenistan holds some of the world’s largest gas reserves, and satellite monitoring has repeatedly identified it as a source of major methane “super-emitter” events. The training is part of the 2025–2026 roadmap under the Global Methane Pledge, which Ashgabat joined in 2023.
CentralasianLIGHT.org,
November 6, 2026