Dragon Oil and Petronas to Yield Their Shares in Turkmen Projects to Russia's Zarubezhneft and Itera
Published:
19 October 2003 y., Sunday
Western companies have been contemplating whether to accept or reject Ashkhabat's offers to develop the hydrocarbon reserves on the Turkmen shelf of the Caspian Sea. Turkmenistan has insisted that its 32 blocks totaling over 70 thousand square kilometers contain 16.5 billion tons of oil equivalent. Investors are daunted not only by the insufficient extent of the blocks' exploration but also by the absence of export prospects. Dragon Oil and Petronas are showing investors one way out of this blind alley with their plan to concede their project shares to the Russian company Zarubezhneft and international gas trader Itera in exchange for access to export trunks.
Russian Zarubezhneft and Itera are planning to set up a joint venture to participate in at least two oil-and-gas projects on the Turkmen shelf of the Caspian Sea. A source close to Zarubezhneft executives told RusEnergy.com that these are projects to develop the Cheleken Block and the neighboring Block-1. A little earlier, Zarubezhneft CEO Nikolai Tokarev affirmed it in an interview to the Oil & Capital magazine (№ 11 - 2001). Official representatives of the operators, however, refuse to confirm the existence of the deal with Russian companies.
An agreement on the Russian joint venture unifying the projects will be signed in the coming months, a source in Zarubezhneft reports. The joint venture will allegedly acquire an unspecified part of the present participants' shares. Currently, these projects are already being implemented in accordance with the production sharing agreement (PSA) between Turkmenistan and foreign companies. Dragon Oil is the Cheleken operator with its controlling stock owned by the United Arab Emirates (through the Emirates National Oil Company). Malaysia's Petronas is the operator of the Block-1 development project.
The intention of the Zarubezhneft-Itera alliance to join the projects has received an enthusiastic response from both foreign companies and Turkmen authorities. After meeting with the heads of the Russian companies Turkmenistan's president Saparmurat Niyazov declared his support of their plans.
Šaltinis:
RusEnergy.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
How will economic policies adapt in 2020 when a quarter of the EU population is over 65? Can economics better predict how banks will react to credit crunches in the future, and what their impact will be on the wider economy?
more »
The EBRD is supporting the development of one of the first modern food retail chains in Turkmenistan with a $1.9 million equity investment in Ak Enar.
more »
While on a working visit to Ukraine, President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė has underlined that Ukraine might become a very important energy partner for Lithuania and for the whole European Union but only transparent and open relations will lead to success in this area.
more »
On 25 November in Vilnius, Lithuania’s Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the Nordic Investment Bank discussed the issues of the Northern Dimension Partnership on Transport and Logistics (the secretariat of which is being established at the Bank), issues of the NIB cooperation with Lithuania and perspectives of the NIB’s activities in the country.
more »
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has adopted a new strategy for the Russian Federation.
more »
Consumer protection requires transparent and consistent trade rules, believe MEPs.
more »
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending CZK 2 billion (approx. EUR 76 million) to the South Moravia Region for co-financing the Region’s priority infrastructure projects supported by the EU Structural and Cohesion Funds over the period 2007 – 2013.
more »
Seeking to strengthen business partnership between Israel and Lithuania the Israel and Lithuania Chamber of Commerce has been recently established in Lithuania.
more »
AB DnB NORD Bankas, notifies that on 24 November 2009, the member of the Management Board and Executive Vice-president of AB DnB NORD Bankas dr. Jekaterina Titarenko has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer of Bank DnB NORD Group.
more »
Parliament gave its backing on Tuesday for €400 million-plus in budget aid to Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Armenia and Georgia.
more »