Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Oct. 27 /Trend, G.Hasanov/
The return of ExxonMobil - the biggest U.S. company on natural gas production - to the Turkmen market may accelerate the development of hydrocarbon resources in the Turkmen section of the Caspian Sea and the access to Europe.
According to some estimates, this part of the Caspian Sea concentrates 11 billion tons of oil and 5.5 trillion cubic meters of gas , excluding already contracted blocks.
As known, official Ashgabat conducts a transparent policy, stating that the priority for it is the signing of PSA with Western companies through direct negotiations to develop Caspian. It was recently announced that the proposals by companies such as Chevron, Total, TX Oil and others are studied.
And a proposal made by President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to the President of ExxonMobil Upstream Ventures Rob S. Franklin, received recently in Ashgabat, was not exception.
"Great experience of ExxonMobil can be successfully used in projects of exploration, development of hydrocarbon fields in the Turkmen section of the Caspian Sea, in the sphere of oil refining, the training of professional personnel for oil and gas industry," said the Turkmen leader, local media reported.
Turkmen experts say that more than 80 percent of offshore hydrocarbon reserves are located in the sediment at a depth of more than 3,000 meters, as well as in poorly studied areas of oil and gas, so still there is a high probability of finding significant new oil and gas fields. New perspectives are associated primarily with two major oil and gas basins - Middle Caspian and South Caspian.
Accelerated development of the Caspian Sea assumes strategic importance for Turkmenistan, which has been actively involved in the search for new markets, which today are Russia, China and Iran. Explored reserves of Caspian resources can bring Turkmenistan to European markets. To achieve this ultimate goal there are a number of options - a possibility of laying a gas pipeline between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan through the Caspian Sea or the construction of plants for gas compression and transportation of raw materials by ships.