Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The Turkmenoil State Concern of Turkmenistan plans to increase geological and technical measures in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea in 2014.

The news was announced by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources on February 26.

Work on drilling 21 prospective and explorative wells was completed in 2013.

"The development of these wells resulted in oil flow, the industrial resource of which was 101.25 percent," the ministry said.

The main work is being conducted in the area of Gogerendag-Ekerem in western Turkmenistan, where prospecting and exploration at wells No. 12,16,18,19, 20, and 21 of the Akpatlavuk field have been completed.

"This resulted in getting an average 60-80 tons of oil flow per day, as well as 100,000 cubic meters of natural gas. Currently, drilling work is being carried out in wells No. 14 and 24 at the Altyguyy field, and well No. 22 is being developed," the ministry said.

The ministry went on to note that Turkmenoil is also successfully developing the Turkmen shelf in the Caspian Sea, thereby increasing the number of production wells in the sea.

"Search and exploration at wells No. 201, 202, and 204 have been recently completed thanks to the oil workers' efforts. As a result, each of these wells started giving an average of 50-60 tons of oil flow per day. These newly developed productive reservoirs have demonstrated the prospects of the North Goturdepe platform's offshore shelf," the ministry said.

Drilling operations were also carried out at the exploration wells No. 203, 205, 206, and 208 of this field.

The hydrocarbon resources of the Caspian Sea's Turkmen shelf are estimated at 12 billion tons of oil and 6.5 trillion cubic meters of gas. Several contract areas, located in the areas with middle and large depth, were put up for international tender.

Turkmenoil occupies a leading position in Turkmenistan's economy and is involved in the production of oil and gas, chemicals, stone, and bentonite.

The Concern is cooperating with various foreign companies for drilling oil and gas fields, overhaul, renovation of equipment for oil and gas fields and oil pipelines, and construction of new pipelines.

The Concern is not only involved in drilling work at old fields, but also conducts geological exploration at new areas. Tenders are held from time to time for purchasing the required equipment, special machinery, and chemical reagents.

About three years ago, Turkmenoil started developing the Caspian Sea's shallow part, using modern equipment and implementing high-performance technologies for the dual operation of two or more horizons in the same well.

The state concern has conducted exploration and development of oil and gas fields, creating the right conditions for effective developments in oil and gas production and drilling exploration and production wells.

The state concern currently operates about three dozen fields, including more than 600 oil and gas deposits that are at various stages of development.

In the years of independence, the Concern was able to increase the oil production from five to eight million tons, and the gas processing reached 11.6 billion cubic meters per year.