Gazprom halts exploration in Tajikistan due to dry well, difficult conditions
DUSHANBE. Feb 14 (Interfax) - Gazprom International, a subsidiary of Russian gas giant Gazprom , has stopped exploration for hydrocarbons in Tajikistan and returned its last two licenses in the Central Asian country, the company reported on its website.
"A commercial flow of hydrocarbons was not obtained in Tajikistan, so Gazprom's central commission for resource use and license management decided to cede the license to Sarikamysh," the company said.
The company also returned the license to the West Shokhambary block due to "extremely difficult geological conditions," the website said.
In 2011, the company returned the licenses for the resource rights to the Sargazon and Rengan blocks.
Gazprom International secured the licenses to survey Sargazon and Rengan, respectively 70 km southeast and 20 km south of Dushanbe in 2006. However, the company was only able to begin the active phase of operations in the region in 2008, after receiving another two exploration licenses, to Sarikamysh and West Shokhambary.
The company did gravity surveying at Rengan, but an analysis of the results showed that the geological conditions of the block "make the project to develop it economically unfeasible, at least at the current stage." As a result, the company said it decided not to renew the license to this block, which expired in 2011.
Under a 2008 agreement, if exploration work does not yield the anticipated results the investor is not compensated for expenditures but has the right to request licenses to other prospective areas. Gazprom International is now exploring the possibility of obtaining licenses to prospective oil and gas areas in the southwestern and northern parts of Tajikistan.
The company said that commercial hydrocarbon deposits were discovered and reserves were assessed at most of the considered blocks in the Soviet era. If a decision is made to participate in projects to develop them, Gazprom International will need to prepare feasibility studies, do comprehensive geological exploration and field studies, reinterpret previously obtained materials, assess resource potential, overhaul wells, and do additional exploration and development of fields, the company said.
The prospective areas are linked to the country's existing gas transport system. If fields are discovered, it is expected that a Russian-Tajik joint venture will be formed or a production sharing agreement will be signed to develop them.
"We highly value the confidence and support that Tajikistan's leadership provides to Gazprom's projects and, for our part, are prepared for and open to further full-scale cooperation with the country in the area of energy," Gazprom International CEO Andrei Fik said.
