DUSHANBE, January 10, 2013, Asia-Plus  -- Running of flow tubing into the wildcat well “Shajrinav-1P” at the Sariqamish field will take place this month, according to Gazprom International’s office in Dushanbe.

To-date, the specialists have reportedly drilled 5,563 meters of the 6,300-meter Sharinav-1P wildcat well.  The drilling operations are expected to be completed in the first quarter of this year.

Gazprom International now has licenses to explore two oil-and-gas reserves in Tajikistan: Sariqamish and the Western Shohambari.

The Sariqamish field has possible gas reserves of 18 billion cubic meters, according to Gazprom International.

Cooperation between the Tajik government and Russia’s state-controlled company Gazprom is regulated by a long-term (till 2028) agreement on strategic cooperation in the gas industry signed between Gazprom and Tajikistan’s Ministry of Energy in Dushanbe on May 15, 2003 and a memorandum of intent on launching joint Tajik-Russian enterprises of March 28, 2006.  Gazprom has been working in Tajikistan on providing the beginning of geological explorations since July 2006.

According to expert estimates, the aggregate raw-materials resources of the oil and gas bearing areas in Tajikistan amount to about 1,000 billion tons of reference fuel.  At the same time, production work at oil and gas fields require considerable expenditure, since hydrocarbon deposits occur at depths ranging from 6.5 to 8 kilometers.