DUSHANBE, January 17, Asia-Plus — Russian state-controlled gas company Gazprom that received two licenses from the Tajik government to explore oil and gas reserves should register them at three Tajik organizations, including the Main Directorate for State Control of Safety of Works Conducted in Industry and Mining.
The directorate head Murod Jumayev remarked this at a news conference in Dushanbe today. According to him, the directorate will study a contract concluded between the Tajik government and the Russian company and consider the issue of registration of licenses.
“Besides our agency, the licenses should be registered also with the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection and Geology Foundation,” said Jumayev, “Only after that, Gazprom may start geological surveys.”
As it had been reported earlier, Gazprom was granted two licenses by the government of Tajikistan for the geological prospecting of natural gas and oil fields in Tajikistan on December 29 last year.
The licenses were issued under a strategic cooperation agreement signed between Gazprom and the Tajik government May 15, 2003.
The Rengan gas field is located in the Rudaki district, 20 kilometers south of the republic”s capital, Dushanbe, with probable natural gas reserves of 35 billion cubic meters.
The Sargazon field is based in the Danghara district of the Khatlon province, 150 kilometers southeast of Dushanbe, with probable gas reserves of 30 billion cubic meters.
By now, 12 oil and gas fields have been discovered in Tajikistan, of which two gas and five oil deposits are being developed. The republic needs over 1.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year. In 2005, Tajikistan produced 29.4 million cubic meters of gas.
