DUSHANBE, September 25, 2012, Asia-Plus — To-date, Gazprom International, an affiliate of Russia’s state-controlled company Gazprom, has drilled 4,883 meters of the 6,300-meter Shahrinav-1P wildcat well at the Sariqamish field, press release issued by Gazprom International says.
The possible gas reserves of Sariqamish field in the Shahrinav district are reportedly estimated at 18 billion cubic meters and its possible oil reserves are estimated at 17 million tons. The Sariqamish field’s possible reserves of oil-dissolved gas are estimated at 2 billion cubic meters.
Meanwhile, Valery Gulev, CEO of Gazprom International, met with Gul Sherali, Minister of energy and Industries of Tajikistan, in Moscow recently. The progress of implementation of Gazprom-sponsored projects for exploration and development of gas fields in Tajikistan was a major topic of the meeting.
Gulev reportedly informed Gul Sherali of their intention to start exploration of the Western Shaambari, which is located in western Tajikistan.
For his part, Tajik minister expressed satisfaction with the progress of implementation of the Gazprom-sponsored projects in Tajikistan.
Cooperation between the Tajik government and Russia’s state-controlled company 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.
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.
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.
