Interfax
October 6

Uzbekistan had 190 known oil and gas fields as of September 1, 2003.

At present, 88 of them are under production, 58 have been prepared for production, 35 are under exploration and nine have been mothballed, Alimdzhan Zakirov, deputy chairman of Uzbekneftegaz, the national oil and gas company, told Interfax.

Uzbekistan has depleted 21% of its known hydrocarbon reserves, including 72.9% in the Bukhara-Khiva region, 34.9% in the Hissar region, 20.6% in the Surkhan Darya region, 26.6% in the Ferghana region and 11.7% Ustyurt region.

Uzbekistan stepped up oil and gas exploration in 1998 and, since 2002, has discovered 14 new fields, five of them in the Ustyurt district.

Last year, for the first time ever, hydrocarbon reserves were replenished at a significantly higher rate than they were depleted. The volume of geological work is set to sustain growth in the years to come.

Uzbekistan adopted a five-year geological program in 2000. By 2005, the country should be drilling 200,000 meters of deep wells, compared with 72,000 meters in 2000.

More than $50 million has been invested in the petroleum- and gas- related geological sector in the last two years. Two 3D seismic exploration complexes and two versatile American drilling rigs have been introduced.

This year, China Petroleum Technology & Development Corporation will finish upgrading 10 existing drilling rigs at an overall cost of $69.7 million.

In 2002, China's Norinco Chemical Ltd. signed a deal to supply two drilling rigs worth an overall $15 million to Uzbekistan. The rigs should be delivered in 2004.

Uzbekneftegaz was set up in 1998 and controls nine oil and gas producers. Charter capital is $1.555 billion.

The company produced 57.672 billion cu m of natural gas in 2002, 1.8% more than in 2001, and 7.198 million tonnes of oil and gas condensate, up 0.3%.

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