Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Nov. 20
By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend:
The main condition for intensive development of the Turkmen economy is to draw foreign capital in oil and gas industry and modern technologies for the development of hydrocarbon resources, especially in the Caspian Sea.
The tenders have been recently held to increase the attractiveness of the licensed offshore blocks in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea.
The tenders have been held for the acquisition of additional seismic data, in particular, in the most attractive transit area along the coast and the northern part of the Turkmen sector, with further processing, interpretation and preparation of data packages for the concerned companies.
The development of hydrocarbon resources of the Caspian Sea has a great importance for Turkmenistan.
Muhametnur Halylov, the Turkmen oil and mineral resources minister, addressed the recent oil and gas forum in Ashgabat.
He said that the development of the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea is one of the priority areas of investing in the oil and gas industry of Turkmenistan.
The resources are estimated at 12.1 billion tons of oil and 6.1 trillion cubic meters of gas.
Over $10 billion were invested in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea since the foreign companies have begun their activity.
According to the State Agency for Management and Use of Hydrocarbon Resources under the president of Turkmenistan, the amount of foreign investments in the development of oil and gas projects exceeded $3 billion in 2014 as part of the production sharing agreements (PSA).
According to the preliminary estimates, their number is expected to exceed $ 3.5 billion in 2015.
Turkmenistan considers it a priority to sign production sharing agreements (PSA) by means of direct negotiations on the development of Caspian resources. Such companies as Petronas, Dragon Oil, RWE, Dea AG, Itera and others were involved in the development of the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea under the production sharing agreements.
ENI expressed interest in the development of the Caspian Sea at the end of 2014. The Italian company plans to explore the 19th and 20th blocks of the Turkmen shelf with reserves of more than 500 million tons of oil and 630 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
The State Agency for Management and Use of Hydrocarbon Resources under the President of Turkmenistan said that the Petronas Charigali company based on the PSA signed in 1996, conducts oil work on the Contract Area "Block 1", where, the company produces oil since 2006 and natural gas since 2011.
The Dragon oil company based on the PSA signed in 1999 works on contract area "Cheleken" ("Block 2"). The company produces Caspian oil on the fields "Jeitun" and "Jigalibek" and having repaid their investments, get stable profits over a long period of time by selling raw materials mainly through the port of Baku. Other companies carry out exploration work in this zone.
Turkmen experts assert that over 80 percent of the resources are located in the sediments at depths of more than 3,000 meters, as well as in oil and gas concentration areas, which are poorly examined. Two major oil and gas basins - the Middle Caspian Basin and South Caspian Basin are considered to prospective.
Turkmenistan has significant reserve of hydrocarbon resources both onshore and on the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea. The country ranks fourth for the natural gas reserve in the world.
Turkmenistan's hydrocarbon resources stand at 71.2 billion tons of oil equivalent, of which 18.2 billion tons account for license offshore blocks in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea.