Dr. David Robinson, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tethys Petroleum Limited (Tethys or Company), died aged 58 on December 24 in his house on the Island of Guernsey, situated in the English Channel (la Manche).
Dr. Robson had been director of Tethys since the company's creation in 2003. He had also been member of the Independent Supervisory Board of Orienbonk, which is one of the oldest banks in Tajikistan, and one of its largest financial institutions.
Dr. David Robson was also one of co-founders of the Consultative Council on Improvement of Investment Climate under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan.
Recall, Total and CNPC, which are partners of Tethys in Tajikistan on Bokhtar Operating Company (BOC) have filed for arbitration proceedings at the International Court of Arbitration in relation to the Company's cash call defaults and the partners' notice to the Company to withdraw.
The partners are reportedly seeking to enforce the withdrawal notice and their claim for damages of US$9.0 million (and continuing) plus costs.
The Company has submitted its response to the request for arbitration and has made a counter-claim against the partners of US$10.1 million.
Bokhtar Operating Company B.V. (BOC) is a company owned by Total E&P Tajikistan B.V. (Total), CNPC Central Asia B.V. (CNPC) and Kulob Petroleum Ltd. (KPL).
BOC is the operating company of Total, CNPC and KPL which undertakes the petroleum operations within the Bokhtar block located in the southern part of Tajikistan.
The Bokhtar Production Sharing Contract (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.
According to Tethys, an independent Resource Report (dated June 30, 2012) estimates Gross unrisked mean recoverable resources of 27.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent, consisting of 3.22 trillion cubic meters of gas and 8.5 billion barrels of oil.
Tethys is focused on oil and gas exploration and production activities in Central Asia and the Caspian Region. This highly prolific oil and gas area is rapidly developing and Tethys believes that significant potential exists in both exploration and in discovered deposits.
