Tethys Petroleum opens new oil terminal to transport oil from Doris oilfield
ALMATY.Feb 2 (Interfax) - Tethys Petroleum Limited has officially opened its Aral Oil Terminal (AOT), a new oil storage and rail loading facility for oil shipments from the Company's Doris oilfield into the Kazakh rail system.
"The AOT is located approximately 230 km from the Doris oil field, significantly reducing the distance oil is currently trucked by road from the field. The opening of the AOT will thus reduce transportation costs significantly and will result in an increased realized oil price," the company said in a press release.
"Furthermore, the current rail loading point at Emba experiences bottlenecks due to overuse by many different companies; the AOT will be dedicated to Tethys oil sales," according to the statement.
The opening of AOT will allow the Company to initially double production to approximately 4,000 barrels of oil per day ("bopd") due to a halving of the road trucking distance. To date, over 13,000 bopd have been tested from exploration and appraisal wells in and around the Doris accumulation.
"This is the first stage of the AOT, and it is planned to expand the facility to 12,000 bopd in the upcoming year. In addition to a rail loading facility the terminal will provide a closer offloading point for refined oil products, equipment and materials required on the Doris exploration and appraisal programme which in turn will result in significant cost savings to the Company," the company said.
The recent acquisition of additional road trucks means that 240 are now in daily operation.
The AOT is owned and operated by a joint venture by Tethys and its Kazakh oil trading partner's company, Olisol Investment Ltd.
Tethys is focused on oil and gas exploration and production activities in Central Asia with activities currently in the Republics of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. This highly prolific oil and gas area is rapidly developing and Tethys believes that significant potential exists in both exploration and in discovered deposits.