Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, president of Turkmenistan, Central Asia's top gas exporter, has ordered his nation's fuel and energy sector managers to speed up development of oil and gas fields on the Caspian Sea shelf, local media said on Friday.
Work on an environmental study of projects in the Turkmenistan sector of the Caspian Sea shelf implemented by Russia's Itera and Germany's RWE Dea AG at blocks No.21 and No.23 respectively, is of top priority, Berdymukhamedov said.
Berdymukhamedov has ordered preparations for an additional agreement to the production-sharing contract with Italy's ENI on the Nebitdag agreement area.
He also ordered fuel and energy managers to select a winning bid for development of blocks No.9 and No.20. Chevron, Mubadala and ConocoPhillips are among the contenders.
Turkmenistan's Caspian Sea sector is divided into 32 blocks. Companies which have signed a production-sharing contract with the Turkmenistan government usually get a license for exploratory work at one of the blocks for six years. If the company discovers hydrocarbons, it receives a commercial production license for 25 years. Other details about commercial terms have not been disclosed.
ASHGABAT, August 13 (RIA Novosti)
