OREANDA-NEWS. April 24, 2014. China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) plans to begin in 2015 trial operation of Mingbulak oil field in Namangan region of Uzbekistan.

The company will complete drilling in the license area by summer, equipping will start in late 2014, and exploitation works in 2015.

 CNPC and National Holding Company Uzbekneftegaz signed in October 2011 an agreement on basic principles of cooperation for joint development of Mingbulak field.

Under the agreement, the Chinese company plans to invest USD212 million in geological exploration and development of industrial production of hydrocarbons in the field with the design capacity of 200,000 tons per year.

The project operator is Mingbulakneft JV, created in June 2008, on a parity basis between CNPC and Andijanneft (subsidiary of Uzbekneftegaz). Mingbulak field was discovered in 1992.

According to Uzbekneftegaz, total recoverable reserves are about 2 million tons.