DUSHANBE, December 28, 2001, Asia-Plus — Open Joint Stock Company (OJSC) Gazprom, which is the largest extractor of natural gas in the world and the largest Russian company, has decided to abandon one of four gas fields in Tajikistan.
Russia’s news agency, RIA Novosti, reports Gazprom will not extend the license for the Rengan field in the Roudaki district (the license expires this year) but considers the possibility of getting license to explore the Naftmaydon field in northern Tajikistan.
Russia’s state-controlled gas company Gazprom has received licenses from the Tajik government to explore four oil-and-gas reserves in Tajikistan: Rengan; Sargazon; Sariqamish; and the Western Shaambari.
Gazprom’s affiliate, Gazprom International, which is specialized in implementation of overseas projects, is carrying out exploration work in Tajikistan and it plans to extend its operations in this Central Asian republic, RIA Novosti reports.
The Rengan field, located in the Roudaki district has possible gas reserves of 35 billion cubic meters and the Sargazon field, located in Khatlon province has possible reserves of 30 billion cubic meters.
According to RIA Novosti, the Sariqamish field possible has gas reserves of 18 billion cubic meters and possible oil reserves of 17 million tons.
Of all the four licensed sites of Gazprom in Tajikistan, Sariqamish is estimated as the most promising. We will recall that during his visit to Dushanbe, the Gazprom top manager Aleksei Miller noted on December 7, 2010 that on the basis of the seismic surveys they have conducted they understand that the estimated reserves of the Sariqamish field is 60 billion cubic meters of gas. According to him, this amount is enough to supply Tajikistan for 50 years.
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.
