Thursday, July 19, 2012 -
Tajikistan’s hydrocarbons resources have “supergiant” potential that may be transformational for Canadian energy major Tethys Petroleum, its director said Thursday.
"The deep prospects being pursued in Tajikistan have 'super-giant' potential and any exploration success will be transformational for the company,” said Tethys chairman, president, and CEO David Robson.
Robson made that remark in a company statement coinciding with the release of an independent report that significantly increased the estimated resources of its Bokhtar production sharing contract area in the mountainous Central Asian republic.
The report, prepared by U.S. firm Gustavson Associates, said Tethys’ license area holds estimated gross unrisked mean recoverable resources of 27.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
The announcement caused the company's stocks to rise 35 percent in London trading.
Robson said the prospective resources were “significantly greater than the estimated remaining reserves and unrisked resources in the UK North Sea.”
“This hugely significant increase in our estimated resources in Tajikistan transforms our prospective resource base,” he said.
“Tethys is operating in a world class basin with enormous and untapped potential," he added.
The final stage of the seismic program will commence this summer with initial interpreted results expected by the end of the year, the company added.
The analysis will also help identify the location of the first deep well for penetration in 2013, most likely within the promising Dushanbe Step or Vaksh Valley zones.
Tethys is licensed to exploit an area of approximately 13,500 square miles.
The news is also good for poverty-stricken Tajikistan, whose deep and difficult-to-reach hydrocarbons reserves have until now been thought to amount to a very small share of its Central Asian neighbors.