Gazprom To Develop Uzbek Gas Field
Russia’s Gazprom and Uzbekistan have signed a 25-yr production sharing agreement (PSA) for the Djel gas field, the company said October 18. The agreement was signed at a regional gathering in Tashkent.
Gazprom estimates that production from Djel will be 0.15bn m3/yr in the first four years (2021-2024), rising to 0.3bn m3/yr later. Djel’s recoverable reserves were 6.4bn m3 gas and 76,000 metric tons of condensate as at August 8, 2012 according to Uzbek government data. The field development project envisages 10 wells, a compressor, and a 1km link to the country’s pipeline system.
The Djel field was discovered within the Shakhpakhta investment block in 2009, some 15 km from the Gazprom-led Shakhpakhty field. Its discovery followed the signature three years earlier by state-run Uzbekneftegaz and Gazprom of basic principles for conducting a geological survey of the area; some $400mn was invested between 2006 and 2011 as a result.
To date however, privately-owned Lukoil has been the main Russian upstream investor in Uzbekistan, doubling production at its Kandym and Gissar fields year on year to 6.1bn m3 in 1H2018.
Uzbekneftegaz signed October 7 an exploration agreement in Paris with Total covering certain Uzbek blocks.
In other news, EU lending arm the European Investment Bank said October 15 it will lend €200mn ($230mn) to Uzbekistan: half for water and wastewater projects, and half for energy efficiency. They are the first EIB loans to the central Asian country. The energy efficiency loans will be targeted at small and medium-sized enterprises, mid-cap companies and private sector entities there.