Tethys Petroleum Extends Kazakh Gas Production Contract

Tethys Petroleum Limited has received permission to extend the Kyzyloi Gas Production contract for another 15 years, from June 14, 2014 to December 31, 2029.

The company on Friday announced that its wholly-owned Kazakh subsidiary, TethysAralGaz has received permission from the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan to extend the contract.

“The Ministry of Energy has granted this contract extension following the Kazakh State Reserves Committee's (GKZ) approval of the new State Reserves for Kyzyloi previously announced in May 2014. The Kyzyloi contract area has been increased by 56 percent to 449 km2 (110, 950 acres) and now encompasses a larger gas bearing area including the AKK05 well (to be worked over later in Q1 2015) and also the AKK08 & AKK10 successful gas wells,” the company said in a statement.

John Bell, Executive Chairman, commented, "This very important gas production contract extension follows on from the Akkulka Exploration Contract Extension earlier this month. We see very good growth potential in the gas business over next few years both in terms of pricing and volume and this approval of Kyzyloi for an additional 15 years provides a solid production base from which to achieve this growth."

Kyzyloi and Akkulka fields contain sweet, dry natural gas at shallow depths of up to 610 metres making for relatively low development and operating costs. The Kyzyloi and Akkulka fields are tied into the major Bukhara-Urals gas pipeline by a 56 km pipeline owned and built by the company and with a design capacity of up to 2.0 million cubic metres per day (Mcm/d).