Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 9
By Aygun Badalova - Trend:
Russian Gazprom to start gas exploration in Kyrgyzstan, Kabar news agency reported on Sept. 9 referring to the Kyrgyz ministry of energy and industry.
Kyrgyzstan's Minister of Energy and Industry, Osmonbek Artikbayev met with Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee Vitaly Markelov and other representatives of Russian company on Sept. 8.
During the meeting the company's managers explained that the respective agreement will be signed by the end of September.
They also stressed that there were concrete goals, however the works won't start, and added that at the same time the exploration territory needs to be expanded.
In 2013, Gazprom acquired all of the gas infrastructure within Kyrgyzstan. Gazprom as well as its subsidiaries have the exclusive right to import natural gas to the country and are protected against expropriation and nationalization in Kyrgyzstan.
Meanwhile, Gazprom has to pay off KyrgyzGas's $40 million debt and guaranteed to invest over 20 billion rubles ($612.8 million) in modernization and reconstruction of Kyrgyzgas's gas infrastructure within five years.