Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Fikret Dolukhanov – Trend:
The Korean National Oil Corporation (KNOC) started geological exploration work at the Dekhkanabad and Tashkurgan investment blocks of the South-West Gissar project in Uzbekistan, Uzbek media reported referring to the protocol on the date of entry into force of the agreement on geological exploration, signed in Tashkent on May 15 within the framework of the “Oil and Gas of Uzbekistan - OGU 2018” international exhibition.
The agreement between Uzbekneftegaz JSC and KNOC concerning the two investment blocks was achieved in 2017. Geological exploration should be carried out on a risk basis for five years. Total investment in the project is estimated at over $24 million.
In 2014-2015, KNOC decided to withdraw from three upstream projects in Uzbekistan, due to their economic inefficiency. The company withdrew from the international consortium for development of oil and gas fields in the Uzbek part of the Aral Sea, and also cancelled exploration work at four investment blocks in the Fergana and Namangan regions. Total amount of the company's investments in these projects since 2010 had been about $60 million.
Several large deposits were discovered in Uzbekistan in the 1Q2018. Two of them, the Kuyi Surgil gas condensate field in the Ustyurt region and the Uchtepa oil field in the Ferghana region, have an industrial inflow of oil with a debit of 64 cubic meters a day.
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