Malaysia's Petronas to look for gas in Uzbekistan
Tue Oct 4, 2005
TASHKENT, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Malaysia's state oil firm Petronas [PETR.UL] has won the right to explore gas fields in southern Uzbekistan, an official at Uzbek national oil and gas company Uzbekneftegaz said on Tuesday.
Western energy majors have bypassed the hydrocarbon-rich Central Asian state where reforms have been slow, legislation murky and the economy is tightly regulated by the government.
The Uzbekneftegaz official, who declined to be named, told Reuters that two Petronas subsidiaries will be conducting geological and other technical works at Gadzhak and Koknisai fields in the southern Surkhandarya region for 18 months.
He said the relevant agreements had been reached during Uzbek President Islam Karimov's visit to Malaysia on Monday. He declined to give other details or dislose potential investments.
Petronas was among a group of foreign firms which signed a deal with the Uzbek government last month, agreeing to start joint gas and gas condensate exploration in western Uzbekistan.
Other participants of that consortium included Russian oil giant LUKOIL (LKOH.RTS: Quote, Profile, Research)(LKOH.MM: Quote, Profile, Research), state-run Korea National Oil Corp. and China's state oil firm CNPC (0135.HK: Quote, Profile, Research).
Last year, LUKOIL and Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom (GAZPPE.RTS: Quote, Profile, Research) announced plans to invest billions of dollars in Uzbekistan's energy sector.
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