Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Russian giant Gazprom will resume geological exploration of two oil and gas fields in Kyrgyzstan.

The intergovernmental Russian-Kyrgyz commission on trade and economic cooperation instructed Gazprom and the Kyrgyz government to continue the implementation of the May 2007 agreement on the general principles of conducting geological study of the oil and gas fields in the Kyrgyz territory.

The agreement envisaged carrying out exploration work at the Kugart and East Maylisu IV fields in the Central Asian state.

This decision is envisaged in the protocol of the 15th session of the Russian-Kyrgyz commission, which was held in Moscow on April 22, 2013.

The Russian and Kyrgyz energy ministries and the Gazprom company were instructed to take measures required to complete the preparations for the signing of the project between the Kyrgyz and Russian governments on the conditions of the purchase and sale and further activity of the Kyrgyzgaz company.

The prospective Kugart field is located 10 kilometers away from the city of Jalalabad. The reserves of the field are estimated at about 17.3 billion cubic meters of gas and 4 million tons of oil and gas condensate.

The prospective East Maylisu IV field is located 15 kilometers away from the Maylisu city.

Gazprom International is the single operator of Gazprom for foreign projects in the field of prospecting, exploration and development of hydrocarbon deposits.

Licenses for the right to use the subsoil in the Kugart and East Maylisu IV fields were issued to Gazprom International in 2008. In 2010, because of the worsening of the political situation in Kyrgyzstan, geological exploration was suspended.

In 2003, Gazprom and the Kyrgyz government signed a 25-year agreement on collaboration in the gas sector, which particularly provides for the development of hydrocarbon deposits in Kyrgyzstan, as well as reconstruction, construction and operation of the main gas pipelines and other infrastructure within the country's gas complex, and the transportation and supply of gas through the implementation of joint projects.