ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Nov. 20
By Huseyn Hasanov– Trend:
President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, at a meeting with top managers of the country's fuel and energy sector, gave instructions to actively work to attract foreign investment in the development of deposits in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea, Trend reports referring to the country's Altyn Asyr TV channel.
The head of state noted that work is underway to attract foreign capital investments in the development of the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea, and to activate non-operating oil wells.
In particular, the Turkmennebit (Turkmenoil) State Concern was instructed to prepare new proposals in order to establish partnerships with international companies in the fields of exploration, development and processing of hydrocarbon resources.
Foreign investments should be attracted to develop new oil fields and extract hard-to-reach residual oil reserves from old deposits, the Turkmen head of state said.
Turkmenistan's Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper wrote that the acting chairman of the Turkmennebit Concern, Japarguly Orazov, presented a report at the meeting.
Thus, information was provided on exploration work carried out by the concern in shallow waters and in the coastal zone of the Caspian Sea, as well as on attracting investors to the development of new offshore blocks in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea.
Turkmen specialists, together with the Western Atlas and Western Geco companies conducted 2D seismic surveys in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea with a volume of more than 16,000 linear kilometers, explored geological structure of the territory up to a depth of seven kilometers and estimated its hydrocarbon potential.
Some 32 licensed blocks with projected reserves of 12.1 billion tons of oil and 6.1 trillion cubic meters of gas from the Turkmen part of the Caspian Sea (excluding already contracted blocks) were put up for an international tender.
In accordance with the local estimates, more than 80 percent of resources of the Turkmen part of Caspian Sea are located in sediments at depths above 3,000 meters.
Turkmenistan annually produces about 10 million tons of oil. Oil production is ensured by Turkmen Oil state concern and PSA-based companies from the UK, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.