Ashkhabad is hosting an oil and gas conference on the role of
Turkmenistan in developing hydro-carbon resources of the Caspian Sea
and opportunities of cooperating with foreign investors, a
press-release by the organizers says.
The conference will also discuss variants of transporting oil and gas
from Turkmenistan to the world market.
Over 700 delegates, including heads, top managers and officials from
foreign companies of over 30 countries, specialists of Turkmen oil and
gas complex are taking part in the conference. Oil and gas companies
and organizations from 35 countries are represented at the conference.
Officials of the European Commission, Energy Ministry of UAE, US State
Department, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and heads of the
leading foreign oil and gas companies are special highlights of the
meeting.
The Turkmen sector of the Caspian has approximately 30 sea blocks
tendering for capital. Turkmen estimates say that the sector has 11
billion tons of oil and 5.5 trillion cubic meters of gas, excluding
the contracted blocks.
The schedule includes issues of priority development of Turkmen gas
sector, investment opportunities, geological exploration, estimations
and development of oil and gas resources, access to markets and
international cooperation as a boost to developing the international
oil and gas trade in Eurasia.
Implementation of international standards and usage of modern
technologies in oil and gas extraction, processing and petrochemical
industries are some of the most topical issues of discussion.
Ashkhabad has recently announced that they may conclude deals with
Chevron (USA) and Total (France) on extraction and exploration of
resources in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian.
RWE (a shareholder of Nabucco) started exploration and development of
a block in the Caspian. It planned to sign a contract in late 2010 on
purchase and sales of Turkmen gas.
Specialist of the state concern Turkmenneft says that over 80% of
hydro carbons lie at a 3000 meter depth and in unexplored areas. Thus,
there is a high chance of discovering large reserves of oil and gas.
New prospects are mainly linked with mid and southern parts of the
Caspian.
Only Malaysia's Petronas can currently organize gas extraction. It
came to the Turkmen market in the 1990s. The company announced that it
may produce 10 billion cubic meters of gas annually and double output
in the future.
