Today, a meeting between Alexey Miller, Gazprom’s Management Committee Chairman, Emomaly Rakhmonov, President of the Republic of Tadjikistan, and Akil Akilov, Prime Minister of the Republic of Tadjikistan was held in Tajikistan.

At the meeting, Gazprom and the government of the Republic of Tadjikistan signed a 25-year Agreement on strategic cooperation in the gas sector. The following direction of cooperation are fixed in the document:

- exploration, development and operation of gas fields in Tadjikistan, including implementation of joint projects based on production sharing agreements;

- gas field construction, well overhaul, and commissioning of non-operating well stock;

- construction, modernization, operation and maintenance of gas pipelines and other facilities of the gas infrastructure of the Republic of Tadjikistan;

- natural gas processing, transportation and marketing in frames of joint projects’ implementation.

Commenting on the results of the meeting, Alexey Miller, Gazprom’s Management Committee Chairman, noted: “We have reached an understanding on the principles and terms of Gazprom’s participation in gas production and transportation projects. We have agreed on the warranties of proprietary rights of Gazprom, principal investor of such projects.

The priority objectives of the cooperation have been determined: seismic geological survey, elaboration of the most efficient gas transmission scheme, and training of the Tajik specialists at Gazprom’s training centers. A contract for seismic survey should be prepared and signed by late June this year.

Cooperation between Gazprom and Tadjikistan in the gas sector entered an absolutely new development stage. The Russian–Tadjik agreement signed today will become a first move in implementing the Central Asia – Center Program which is of special significance for us”.

Reference:

Explored reserves of natural gas and gas condensate in the Republic of Tadjikistan amount to 29.1 bcm and 1.26 mln t, respectively. At the same time, the expected reserves are estimated as high as over 1 trln m3.

Natural gas is produced at small-sized fields in northern and southwestern regions of the Republic – the Kyzyl-Tumshukskoye and Komsomolskoye fields. The local gas is characterized by increased content of sulfur.

Annual domestic natural gas demand is about 1.2 bcm; 620 mln m3 of this volume is consumed by the industry and 550 mln by the residential sector. The demand of the Republic for natural gas is satisfied mainly by gas imports from Uzbekistan and domestic production. However, the consumers’ demand was covered by less than 50% in 2002, at the level of 509 mln m3.

The mineral resource base of Tadjikistan is insufficiently examined and is characterized by complicated geological structure.

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