AKIPRESS.COM - A Japanese trading house, Sumitomo Corp, said on October 26 that it has won a $300 million order to build a 400-megawat gas-fired power plant in Turkmenistan, reports RFE/RL.

The contract is part of a package of deals announced during a visit to Turkmenistan by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

On October 23, Japan and Turkmenistan signed deals worth more than $18 billion in the energy-rich former Soviet republic, which has become an important supplier of natural gas to China.

Sumitomo said it aims to complete the construction of the simple-cycle gas-fired power plant in 2018.

It said the main equipment, such as a gas turbine and power generator, would be procured from Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Ltd.

Turkmenistan holds the world’s fourth-largest reserves of natural gas.