Kazakh, Ukrainian Energy Companies Sign Gas Deal

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko at Naftohaz Ukrayiny headquarters in Kyiv (epa) 25 January 2006 -- Kazakhstan's state-run energy company KazMunaiGaz has announced the signing of a deal with Ukraine's national gas firm Naftohaz Ukrayiny to jointly prospect for gas in western Kazakhstan.
KazMunaiGaz said in a statement today that the two sides had agreed to prepare a feasibility study on the Kulandy gas field in the Kazakh section of the Aral Sea and to start joint prospecting work on it.

The statement did not specify the amount of gas reserves the field is believed to contain.

The deal was reached after talks in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana.

It comes two months after Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev and his Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yushchenko, agreed to boost energy cooperation in a meeting in Kyiv.

(AP)

Central Asia Gas Pipelines

Central Asia Gas Pipelines


Click on the map for an enlarged image.

Russia's rising appetite for Central Asian gas is a direct result of the shifting fortunes of Gazprom, the state-run Russian company that controls lucrative exports. The company's total gas production has flatlined at around 550 billion cubic meters (bcm) a year. With major fields yielding less as they age, Gazprom has chosen to maintain its all-important gas balance by purchasing gas on the side -- from independent producers in Russia and from Russia's Central Asian neighbors -- instead of investing in the lengthy and costly development of untapped Arctic fields...(more)

See also:

Who's Afraid Of Gazprom? Controlling Gas Pipelines