Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, July 21 / Trend H.Hasanov /
Dragon Oil plc, an international oil and gas exploration and production company issued the following trading statement. The company reported a 25% increase in average daily production rate at approximately 58,000 barrels of oil per day ("bpd") in the first quarter of 2011 compared to 46,420 bpd in the first quarter of 2010.
It reported that seven new development wells completed to date.
Capital expenditure on infrastructure and drilling amounted to $151 million for the first quarter of 2011 compared to $174 million in the first quarter of 2010.
Dragon Oil, registered on the London and Dublin stock exchanges.
The company's activity is conducted in the eastern sector of the South Caspian Basin - in the Contract Area "Cheleken" with reserves of 80 million tons of oil and 88 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
The basic PSA agreement with the Turkmen government was signed in 1999. The total area of the contract area is approximately 950 square kilometers. It includes the following deposits Jeytun and Jigalibeg and Chelekenyangummez.
More than forty new wells have been commissioned since the implementation of the project. More than a dozen of offshore platforms have been reconstructed and constructed. More than 80 kilometers of pipelines have been laid. The export opportunities have been expanded. The additional storage facilities have been constructed. It was possible to load two tankers at the same time.
The company previously reported that $ 600-700 million is planned to be invested in the Cheleken oil infrastructure development project in the next three years, of which $ 250 million will be spent in 2011.
2011 drilling programme updated to complete 12 wells, a sidetrack and a workover versus 11 wells previously targeted.