Santos to put $12 mln into oil-gas prospecting in Tajikistan
DUSHANBE. Sept 23 (Interfax) - The Australian oil company Santos Limited intends to be part of the opening of the West Supetau oil and gas field in Northern Tajikistan, and is prepared to spend $11.7 million on geological prospecting, the press service to the republic's Sogd Region said.
In this project, the company will partner with the Tajik-Swiss joint venture Somon Oil (90% owned by DVM Petroleum of Switzerland), which holds the license to the deposit.
"Santos has assumed the cost of prospecting West Supetau. The cost of that work is estimated at $11.7 million, which will be fully covered by the Australian company," the statement says.
What stake Santos will have in the project will be decided on the basis of the geological prospecting work.
"Agreement has been reached with the government of Tajikistan, that in the event extraction begins at the West Supetau deposit revenues will be divided between the republic and companies on a fifty-fifty basis," the statement says.
Reserves at West Supetau are unknown. The field lies in the Asht district of Sogd Region, where several small oil and gas deposits have been opened.
Somon Oil obtained a seven-year prospecting license to the promising North-West oil section spreading over 2,492 square kilometers in Sogd Region two years ago.
Santos Ltd. is Australia's third largest oil company, and has been operating in Tajikistan since 2008. It also works in Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Kyrgyzstan.