Drawer of a tailor: Talking about of Strategic Industries ...: ASIA: LUKoil, ConocoPhillips may sign Turkmenistan contract

LUKoil and ConocoPhillips expect to conclude a contract for developing three blocks of mineral fields in Turkmenistan this year, Alekperov said.

LUKoil and ConocoPhillips are negotiating with Turkmenistan on exploring and developing blocks No. 19, 20, and 21, Alekperov said. "We hope we could secure the conclusion of a contract this year," he said. It was reported earlier with a reference to the Turkmen presidential press service that LUKoil planned to take part in developing three promising blocks of hydrocarbon deposits on the Turkmen Caspian shelf.

Meanwhile, LUKoil plans to achieve maximum oil production in the Caspian by 2015, LUKoil-Nizhnevolzhskneft deputy director general Radik Ilyasov said on August 29.

The "maximum level of oil production at Caspian fields discovered by LUKoil will be reached by 2015 and will amount to about 13 million tonnes per year," Ilyasov said at a conference on the preservation of Caspian Sea ecosystems within the context of oil and gas field development.

Production will remain at this level for at least ten years, he said. All of southern Russia currently produces only about nine million tonnes of oil and condensate per year, Ilyasov said.

The maximum level of gas production - 14 billion cubic metres per year - will be reached by 2025 and will stay at this level for 12 years, Ilyasov said.

"If we add up all the gas that we will be producing offshore and onshore at the Central Astrakhan field, we will get a figure of about 37 billion cubic metres. Today, three times less gas is produced in the Astrakhan region," he said.

LUKoil and ConocoPhillips expect to conclude a contract for developing three blocks of mineral fields in Turkmenistan this year, Alekperov said. LUKoil and ConocoPhillips are negotiating with Turkmenistan on exploring and developing blocks No. 19, 20, and 21, Alekperov said. LUKoil has also started developing the Yuzhno-Khylchuyuskoye field with oil reserves of over 500 million barrels, which is one of the largest fields in Timan-Pechora oil province, in the first half of 2007, the company said in a statement. The field is being developed as part of a joint venture with ConocoPhillips, in which the Russian company has 70 percent, and the US company - 30 percent.

LUKoil President Vagit Alekperov said at a press conference in Moscow on August 30, the field has been commissioned temporarily without being connected to the main terminal at Varandey. "In Spring 2008 we will commission the entire complex, including the export terminal," he said.

The Yuzhno-Khylchuyuskoye field is 120 kilometres from Naryan-Mar and 80 km from the village of Kharyaginsky. Based on reserve classifications, this is a large field. It is located in the northern part of the Kolvinsky bank. LUKoil and CononoPhillips plan to invest about USD 2 billion in equipping this field, which will contain 90 wells.

Planned production amounts to 7.5 million tonnes per year by 2009. Crude will be transported through the Yuzhno-Khylchuyuskoye-Varandey pipeline to the Varandey terminal.

LUKoil and ConocoPhillips expect to conclude a contract for developing three blocks of mineral fields in Turkmenistan this year, Alekperov said. LUKoil and ConocoPhillips are negotiating with Turkmenistan on exploring and developing blocks No. 19, 20, and 21, Alekperov said.