Turkmenistan will allow international oil companies to develop Caspian Sea offshore deposits under production-sharing agreements, said Tacberdi Tagyyew, deputy chairman of the Turkmen council of ministers.
Tagyyew told delegates at a conference on “Oil and Gas of Turkmenistan 2008” in London that some 32 licenses for oil and gas exploration in the Turkmen section of the Caspian Sea have already been issued, and international oil companies may participate in several projects.
However Turkmenistan will reserve the exclusive right of domestic companies to extract oil and gas from the country’s onshore deposits, he added, although foreign partners may participate by providing services.
Tagyyew’s remarks coincided with a call for a new atmosphere of cooperation on energy that appears to be emerging among the “energy triangle” countries that include Russia, the European Union (EU), and Central Asian states.
“Each member of this ‘energy triangle’ depends on the other two, and it requires a new atmosphere of cooperation,” said Pierre Morel, the EU’s special representative for Central Asia. Morel called on all sides to quit “politicizing” energy issues and seek a long-term energy strategy.
Gas export routes vary
In that vein, Turkmenistan is supporting a broad-based policy on natural gas exports, according to Tagyyew. He said Turkmenistan adheres to a “multiple-version” approach toward routes for exporting gas extracted in the country.
He said strategic relations, based on a 25-year trade agreement concluded in 2003, link Russia and Turkmenistan, which currently delivers 50 billion cu m/year of gas to Russia’s OAO Gazprom. Soon, he said, deliveries will increase to 70-80 billion cu m.
Tagyyew also said a gas pipeline to China would go online in 2009, with some 30 billion cu m of gas transiting the line from eastern Turkmenistan to China via Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
Meanwhile, he said, Turkmenistan is considering other export possibilities, including a gas pipeline to Pakistan via Afghanistan and a gas pipeline to Europe via the so-called southern Caspian-Black Sea corridor or Nabucco gas pipeline.