OREANDA-NEWS. September 01, 2011. Uzbekistan is expanding the prospecting and exploration for hydrocarbon deposits on the Uzbek section of the Aral Sea.

A consortium of investors consisting of Uzbekneftegaz, Korean National Oil Corporation, Lukoil Overseas Holding Ltd. (Russia), Petronas Carigali Overseas Sdn. Bhd. (Malaysia), and CNN-Li-Si International Co., Ltd. (China) have completed exploration work under a Production Sharing Agreement in respect of the Uzbek part of the Aral Sea as part of the early stages of the exploration period. In particular, the companies have explored over 2,900 kilometers on 2D method, drilled two exploration wells at a total of 0.2 million.

As a result of the exploration the companies discovered a new hydrocarbons field in Western Aral with about 11 billion cubic meters of preliminary estimate natural gas reserves. Also, seismic data have identified six prospective structures, 4 of which have been certified and prepared for deep drilling. In connection with the expansion work on the Gajak field and other investment blocks Petronas Carigali Overseas Sdn. Bhd. handed over its share under the agreement to other members of the consortium of investors.

President of Uzbekistan has adopted a number of measures for further implementation of the Production Sharing Agreement in respect of the Uzbek part of the Aral Sea. The most important task of the new phase will be conducting more thorough search and evaluation work with the additional drilling of three wells for the discovery and evaluation of new hydrocarbon reserves in the discovered fields. For example, together with other members of the consortium of investors Uzbekneftegaz will hold the development and implementation of the minimum work program of the main stage of the exploration with the drilling of three wells with a minimum amount of funding of million.

Results / Hydrocarbon production
In the first half year Uzbekistan produced 1.9 million tons of oil and gas condensate, and 130.5 thousand tons of liquefied natural gas and 32.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas.