Dushanbe hosted today a working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Emomali Rakhmon, President of the Republic of Tajikistan.

The meeting addressed the implementation of Gazprom's program aimed at searching for and exploring hydrocarbons in the Republic of Tajikistan.

Alexey Miller informed the Tajik President that drilling of the first exploratory well, Shakhrinav-1p, located in the Shakhrinav District of the Republic was started today. The well is expected to be the deepest one in the former USSR.

During negotiations it was emphasized that basing on the preliminary results of geological exploration, aggregate hydrocarbon reserves in the area would amount to at least 60 billion cubic meters of gas.

Alexey Miller underscored that the Tajik Government had created favorable conditions for Gazprom's operations and expressed confidence that the project implementation would mean an important step towards the energy security of Tajikistan.

In turn, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon expressed his gratitude to Alexey Miller for the contribution made by the Russian Company to the energy sector development in Tajikistan.

Background:

Cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan and Gazprom is regulated by the Agreement on the general principles of geological survey at oil and gas prospects in the Republic of Tajikistan (Rengan, Sargazon, Sarykamysh, and Zapadny Shaambary) inked in 2008.

In 2006 the Memorandum of Intent on setting up a joint venture between Russia and Tajikistan was signed.

In 2003 the Agreement on Strategic Cooperation was concluded for 25 years.

The project aimed at searching for and exploring hydrocarbons in Tajikistan is operated by Gazprom zarubezhneftegaz, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gazprom.

On December 7, 2010 the project operator started drilling the first ultra deep exploratory well Shakhrinav-1P in the Sarykamysh prospect. With the design depth of 6,300 meters Shakhrinav-1P will be the deepest exploratory well in the Republic. Gazprom invested RUB 1.5 billion in geological exploration of the licensed areas in Tajikistan, including some RUB 550 million earmarked for the well construction.