Azernews.Az

A report on works carried out to reveal new oil-gas structures in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea has been read out at the governmental session in Ashgabat, an official Turkmen source reported.

The report was submitted by the State agency for the management and use of hydrocarbon resources under the President of Turkmenistan. The issues on international cooperation in fuel-energy field were also discussed during the session.

Turkmen President Gurbangulu Berdimuhammedov underlined that the full-scale exploitation of natural resources of the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea is the most important step towards the development of the national fuel and energy complex.

The Turkmen leader stressed the significance of strengthening of mutually beneficial cooperation with leading world oil andgas companies, as well as attraction of foreign investments.

"This will lead to the successful implementation of energy strategy of our country that is directed to the establishment of multivariate system of Turkmen utilities supply to the largest Eurasian markets," Berdimuhammedov said.

Petronas, Dragon Oil, Buried Hill, RWE, Intera are currently involved in the exploitation of the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea. 32 licensed blocks are participating in the international tender. According to some calculations, 11 billion of oil and 5,5 trillion of gas of the predicted natural resources are concentrated in these fields.

The talks are being carried out with BP, Chevron, TX Oil, ConocoPhilips, Marathon, ExxonMobil and Mubadala. Ashgabat considers signing product sharing agreements as a priority issue for its economy by means of holding direct talks.

Turkmen specialists consider that 80 percent of hydrocarbon resourses of the shelf are concentrated in the precipitations located in the depth of 3000 m, as well as less investigated oil fields. So, there is a real possibility to discover new significant oil and gas fields. New prospects are mostly connected with two large oil and gas basins - Middle Caspian and South Caspian.

The presentation of Itera company on processing and interpretation of seismic substances received within the contracted territory "Block 21" in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea was held in September in Ashgabat.

According to the preliminary calculations, this block has the recoverable resources of oil - 219 million tons and associated gas - 92 billion cubic m and natural gas - 100 billion cubic m. The investments attracted to the project make $6 billion.

It has been earlier reported that German company RWE Dea has completed 3D seismic observation near the coasts of Turkmenistan. This observation was carried out in the above mentioned territory for the first time and covered approximately 400 sq m.

Production sharing agreement regarding this territory was signed in July 2009. According to the PSA, the license provides the realization of exploitation works within six years.

The assessment of the resources is unknown. In case of discovery of hydrocarbon resources, the license will be granted for their industrial exploration for 25 years. Total expenditures in the period of primary exploration within 4 years are estimated in the amount of $60-$80 million.