DUSHANBE, March 24, 2009, Asia-Plus — Closed joint-stock company (CJSC) Gazprom Zarubezhneftegaz has launched large-scale mobilization work on the Sariqamish gas filed in the Shahrinav district, the head of the representative office of Gazprom Zarubezhneftegaz in Dushanbe Sergey Tumanov said.
According to him, specialists from open joint-stock company (OJSC) Saratovneftergeofizika, which is a contracting agency to conduct geophysical survey, visited the Sariqamish field in early April. “They determined ways of delivering equipment,” said Tumanov, “In all, some 35-40 flatcars with equipment; fifteen of them are already en route to Tajikistan and five of them will arrive here in a couple of days and the remaining ten will arrive by May 10.” Topographers will start their work by late May and exploration seismologists will start their work in June. “We seek success in exploration of the Sariqamish field,” Tumanov said, adding that before the beginning of field works the company would sign a contract with the government of Tajikistan on use of mineral resources. This contract will be the main document regulating tax basis and a number of other organizing issues, he noted.
On the seismic survey of the natural-gas field Sargazon in the Khatlon province, the company representatives noted that they had used the standard 2D method. During the work, the method was improved and yielded not bad results.
“The survey has provided new and very interesting information about deep-seated horizons, which are the most promising,” Igor Shatalov, deputy director of Gazprom Zarubezhneftegaz for production, said.
Besides, the survey has shown that sophisticated search techniques – 3D technologies – are required to explore the field.
Gazprom Zarubezhneftegaz is an affiliate of Russia’s state-controlled gas company Gazprom, which is the world’s largest gas company basically focused on geological exploration, production, transmission, storage, processing and marketing of gas and other hydrocarbons. The state owns a 50.002 per cent controlling stake in Gazprom. Gazprom possesses the world’s largest natural gas reserves. The Company’s share in the global and Russian gas stocks makes up 17 and 60 per cent, respectively, with its overall reserves estimated at 29.85 tcm and currently priced at US$ 182.5 bln. Gazprom’s share in the global and Russian gas production is nearly 20 and 85 per cent, respectively.
Cooperation between the Tajik government and Gazprom is regulated by a long-term (till 2028) agreement on strategic cooperation in the gas industry signed between Gazprom and Tajikistan’s Ministry of Energy in Dushanbe on May 15, 2003 and a memorandum of intent on launching joint Tajik-Russian enterprises of March 28, 2006. Gazprom has been working in Tajikistan on providing the beginning of geological explorations since July 2006.
Gazprom has received licenses from the Tajik government to explore four oil-and-gas reserves in Tajikistan: Rengan; Sargazon; Sariqamish; and the Western Shaambari.
According to Gazprom, the Rengan field, located in the Roudaki district, 20 kilometers from the Tajik capital, has possible gas reserves of 35 billion cubic meters. As it had been reported earlier, the Sargazon field, located in Khatlon’s Danghara district, some 150 kilometers from Dushanbe, has possible reserves of 30 billion cubic meters.
According to expert estimates, the aggregate raw-materials resources of the oil and gas bearing areas in Tajikistan amount to about 1,000 billion tons of reference fuel. 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 kilometers.
