Suitors line up in London to court Turkmen oil wealth

By Melissa Akin

LONDON, April 17 (Reuters) - Energy rich Turkmenistan, emerging from decades of self-imposed isolation, took its oil and gas industry's coming-out party on the road, offering energy partnerships to an overflowing hall of oil majors and Western diplomats on Thursday.

"In the future we hope our oil and gas sector will determine our economy as a whole," Bayrammurad Muradov, executive director of the state agency for management and use of hydrocarbon resources, told an army of oil executives and diplomats from North America, Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East.

"There is a place for foreign investors in this process."

The previous day, Muradov and two other senior Turkmen government officals held talks with European oil majors BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research), and met British Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks.

Last week a European Union delegation visited the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat to discuss energy supplies.

Turkmenistan is emerging from decades of Soviet-era isolation followed by 21 years of autocratic rule under Sapurmurat Niyazov, best known for banning gold false teeth and renaming the month of January after himself.

The country took its first steps to open up its energy industry after the election of President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov following Niyazov's death in December 2006.

It opened the door in November 2007 with a conference in Ashgabat. Two more meetings are planned this year.