DUSHANBE, January 12, 2016 Asia-Plus — The Main Geology Directorate under the Government of Tajikistan has assessed activities of the Bokhtar Operating Company B.V. (BOC) as unsatisfactory.
“During negotiations with the BOC top managers that took place at the of end of last year, we expressed concern that no any certain results have been made by the company over the past seven years,” Murod Khol, the head of the Main Geology Directorate told reporters in Dushanbe on January 12.
According to him, they must return 25 percent of prospective oil and gas fields to the Tajik government during this year. Khol refrained from giving further details.
Bokhtar Operating Company B.V. (BOC) is the operating company of Total, CNPC and Kulob Petroleum Limited (KPL), which undertakes the petroleum operations within the Bokhtar block located in the southern part of Tajikistan.
Tethys Petroleum Limited (Tethys) is an oil and gas exploration and production company currently focused on Central Asia and the Caspian Region with projects in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Georgia. This highly prolific oil and gas area is rapidly developing and Tethys believes that significant potential exists in both exploration and in discovered deposits.
Singed in 2008, the 25-year Bokhtar PSC reportedly covers a total area of approximately 35,000 square kilometers in the Afghan Tajik portion of the prolific Amu Darya basin west of the Pamir mountains. The area included in the PSC is in the south-western part of Tajikistan and is a large, highly prospective region which has existing oil and gas discoveries but which has seen limited exploration to date.
Kulob Petroleum Limited, a Tajikistan-based wholly-owned subsidiary of Tethys, in July 2013 signed a farm-out agreement (FOA) for the Bokhtar Production Sharing Contract (PSC) in Tajikistan with subsidiaries of Total S.A. (Total) and the China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Corporation (CNODC).
On October 11, 2015, Tethys received a notice to withdraw from the Joint Operating Agreement and Shareholders Agreement dated June 18, 2013 relating to the Bokhtar PSC in Tajikistan (the “JOA”) and the underlying PSC (the Contract) from CNPC Central Asia B.V. (CNPC) and Total E&P Tajikistan B.V. (Total).
The notice of withdrawal was served on the basis that Tethys has not made the payment on October 9, 2015 for the September Cash Call (approximately US$1.28 Million) issued by the Bokhtar Operating Company. Tethys has also not made payment for the October 2015 Cash Call (approximately US$0.78 million). Pursuant to the notice of withdrawal, Total and CNPC state that they jointly require Tethys” subsidiary, Kulob Petroleum Limited to completely withdraw from the JOA and assign all of its participating interests derived from the Contract and the JOA to Total and CNPC in proportion to their respective participating interests.
