In Tashkent the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Consortium of Investors have signed the Production Sharing Agreement for exploration activities involving further development of newly discovered hydrocarbon fields in the Uzbek section of the Aral Sea.
The Consortium of Investors includes Uzbekneftegaz, the National Holding Company, LUKOIL Overseas Holding, Petronas Carigali Overseas, CNPC International and Korea National Oil Corporation.
According to the Agreement for the creation of the Consortium, that was signed on September 8, 2005 in Tashkent, the members of the Consortium holds equal interest share in the project.
The contract area is the low-explored territory. To study of the prospective territory and in order to discover the new fields the exploration activities within will be implemented in two stages.
On the first stage during the 3 years 2D regional seismic survey of 2300 km and drilling of 2 exploration wells with the minimum cost of work no less than $99.8 MM USD will be made within the framework of the minimum program.
The oil and gas operations will be realized by the operator of the project, and the sales of the whole volume of the product - by the marketing company, that will be created by the members of the Consortium as the legal bodies of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
Taking into consideration adverse weather conditions in autumn-winter period (November-March) that is characterized by the occasional heavy winds that lead to the waves on the surface of the water, and the snow covering on the nearby territory that complicates the workflow, all the preparation operations will be completed during this period f time - it includes the selection of contractor for seismic survey including mobilization of the required equipment. Seismic survey will start from April 2007.
According to the result of the first stage of the geological exploration the multi-variant technical and economical verification will be developed - with the further adjustment of the commercial conditions of the PSA also including the minimum program of the second stage works, the level of taxes and duties and other economical parameters.
After the adjustment of the PSA the geological exploration works of the second stage will be opened with the further development of newly discovered oil and gas fields.