Italian energy group Eni has signed the agreement to expand its activities in gas exploration and extraction in Turkmenistan, wrote Financial Times newspaper yesterday.
The newspaper reads that Italian Prime Minister Mateo Renzi has made a brief stop in Turkmenistan on his way back from G20 summit in Australia.
“The agreement envisages expanding of production area of Eni on the west of Turkmenistan till 2032. The two countries have also signed the memorandum of understanding, which opens possibilities for the Italian company to start search of oil and gas in the Turkmenistan sector of the Caspian Sea.”
Turkmenistan’s gas fields have attracted attention of the European Union long time ago and it is trying to get access to them.
Turkmen media reported that the memorandum on mutual understanding envisages exploration and production of hydrocarbons on the blocs 19 and 20 in the Turkmenistan sector of the Caspian Sea by Eni Turkmenistan Ltd company.
At the briefing after the signing ceremony Turkmenistan President Gurbangulu Berdymohammadov said “the experts estimate resources of these blocs at over 500 million tons of oil and over 600 billion cub.m. of natural gas.”
A package of oil and gas documents has been signed during the working visit of Italian Premier to Turkmenistan.
The documents include the agreement on joint activities between Eni Turkmenistan Ltd and state concern Turkmennebit on the oil field Nebitdag (operated by Eni) and the act on negotiation of share in the production sharing agreement (PSA) and addendum to PSA on this section. The documents extend operation of the Italian oil and gas company on Nebitdag field by 10 more years (till 2032).
* Eni company is not a partner of any pipeline consortia, which are a part of the Southern Gas Corridor, Trans-Anadolu gas pipeline (TANAP) and Trans-Adriatic pipeline (TAP). If the company discovers a significant volume of commercial gas in the Turkmenistan sector of the Caspian Sea, its transportation to the European markets will be possible only when the Southern Gas Corridor has free capacities.
