DUSHANBE, August 26, 2008, Asia-Plus — Issues related to implementation of an agreement on exploration of oil-and-gas fields in Tajikistan, signed in Dushanbe in early July, were discussed at a meeting, organized in Dushanbe by closed joint-stock company (CJSC) Zarubezhneftegaz, subsidiary of Russia’s state-controlled gas company Gazprom.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Ivan Gogolev, public relations officer, Zarubezhneftegaz, said that the meeting participants had included top managers and specialists from Gazprom, Zarubezhneftegaz, open joint-stock company (OJSC) Saratovneftegazfizika, limited liability company VolgoUralNIPIgaz and VNIIGAZ, as well as senior representatives of Tajikistan’s President’s Executive Office, Ministry of Energy and Industries, Main Geology Directorate, State Unitary Enterprise Naftugaz va Angisht and NIPI Nourofar.
Feasibility study for exploration of the licensed oil-and-gas fields in Tajikistan and step-by-step program for exploration of the licensed fields were presented at the meeting.
During the meeting, it was noted that the feasibility study and the step-by-step program had been endorsed at sessions of the commission for gas industry, development of deposits and use of natural resources and the central commission for use of natural resources and management of license movements of Gazprom despite high geological and economic risks.
The meeting participants also considered ways of raising efficiency of seismic-geological surveys on the gas fields in Tajikistan and considred experience of scientific and design support for superdeep drillings, ecological maintenance for exploration works, and directions of exploration works in northern Tajikistan.
Exploration works will be based on experience of exploration works conducted on the oil-and-gas field Sargazon in 2007.
Tajik-Russian cooperation in the gas industry is regulated by an agreement singed in Dushanbe on May 15, 2003.
The aggregate raw-materials resources of the oil and gas bearing areas in Tajikistan amount to about 1,000bn tons of reference fuel, according to expert estimates. At the same time, production work at oil and gas fields require considerable expenditure, since hydrocarbon deposits occur at depths ranging from 6.5 to 8 km.
On December 13, 2006, Gazprom announced received two licenses from the Tajik government to explore oil and gas reserves. The Rengan field, located 20 kilometers from the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, has possible gas reserves of 35 billion cubic meters; Sargazon, located in Khatlon province 150 kilometers from Dushanbe, has possible reserves of 30 billion cubic meters.
In April 2007, Zarubezhneftegaz, which is executor of Gazprom-sponsored projects in Tajikistan, began seismic-geological survey on the Sargazon field. Zarubezhneftegaz plans to conduct exploration works on the Rengan, Sargazon, Sariqamish, and Western Shaambari in the coming five years.
