The head of LUKoil Vagit Alekperov again visited Turkmenistan on a working trip and met with President G. Berdimuhamedov. This was announced by the government of Turkmenistan.
This is the second visit of V. Alekperov to Turkmenistan in 2020. The previous meeting of the head of LUKoil and the President of Turkmenistan was held in February 2020, the main topic during the meeting, as last time, was cooperation in the oil and gas sector.
During the meeting, the possibilities of implementing joint projects and long-term cooperation were discussed, but again no details were announced.
Alekperov emphasized LUKoil’s high interest in further expanding partnership with Turkmenistan and briefed Berdimuhamedov on the company’s activities in the development of hydrocarbon deposits in the Caspian Sea.
Berdimuhamedov noted the traditionally friendly, constructive nature of the Turkmen-Russian relations, which creates favorable preconditions for strengthening business ties in key areas.
It should be noted that the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli contract in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea was the first foreign project of LUKoil. The company joined this project in 1994 by acquiring a 10% equity stake. At the beginning of the XXI century, LUKoil successfully sold its share to Japanese investors, earning a net profit of $ 1 billion.
LUKoil also opened its first branded gas station outside Russia in 1995 in Azerbaijan. In 1996, the company received a 10% stake in the offshore exploration project of Azerbaijan – Shah Deniz, which three years later became the largest gas field in the Caspian.
Since 1995, the company has drilled 26 exploration wells on the Russian shelf of the Caspian Sea and discovered six fields with a total reserve of 1 billion tonnes of oil equivalent. Currently, LUKoil produces more than 7 million tons of oil per year from two fields in the Russian sector.
LUKoil is currently waiting for the signing of an agreement on the Zhenis block in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea. The Russian company is also negotiating with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan on the development of one of the offshore fields.
