DUSHANBE, November 5, 2013, Asia-Plus — Gazprom International, an affiliate of Russia’s state-controlled company Gazprom, is expected to launch an exploration operation at the Western Shohambari field soon.
This issue was reportedly discussed during a telephone conversation of Tajik Minister of Energy and Industry Gul Sherali with Gazprom International Managing Director Valery Gulev.
The sides also discussed the process of work at the Shahrinva-1P wildcat well at the Sariqamish field, according to Gazprom International’s office in Dushanbe.
Gazprom Head Alexei Miller and Gazprom International Managing Director Valery Gulev visited Tajikistan on September 17-18. Alexei Miller told journalists after the talks with President Rahmon on September 18 that his company is interested in obtaining more licenses to explore natural-gas fields in Tajikistan.
According to Miller, Gazprom has invested some $150 million in two major natural-gas fields in Tajikistan”s north since 2010.
Gazprom’s licenses for exploration and development of the Sariqamish and Western Shohambari fields were extended for five years.
In August, Gazprom reportedly announced an additional $15 million investment in its operations at the Sariqamish gas field.
We will recall that Gazprom International has completed the drilling of the Shahrinva-1P wildcat well at the Sariqamish field, Shahrinav district in central Tajikistan, some 36 kilometers southwest of Dushanbe. According to Gazprom International’s office in Tajikistan, they reached the target well depth of 6,450 meters.
The Sariqamish field reportedly has possible gas reserves of 18 billion cubic meters, possible oil reserves of 17 million tons, and possible dissolved gas reserves of 2 billion cubic meters.
Gazprom now has licenses to explore two oil-and-gas reserves in Tajikistan: Sariqamish and the Western Shohambari.
To-date, Gazprom has reportedly invested more than 5.6 billion Russian rubles in exploration of licensed fields.
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.
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.
