Uzbek Paper Details Energy Industry’s 2007 First-Half Achievements

Excerpt from report by Uzbek newspaper Narodnoye Slovo on 17 October

During the joint session [between the Uzbek government and parliament] dedicated to the 16 anniversary of independence, the head of our country [President Islom Karimov] mentioned in his speech that workers of the oil and gas industry had been particularly successful over this period [since independence]. He also said this served not only as a guarantee for economic reform, but also as a strong incentive for social and economic development.

[Passage omitted: background information on the profession of geologist]

As a part of the geological task, in the first half of the year alone, 53 wells were built, 24 of which are for prospecting and 29 for operating.

[Passage omitted: the industry acquired new equipment and uses new technology]

During the first half of the year alone, wells containing more than 15bn cu. m. of gas and 1m tonne of oil were prepared for industrial exploitation; two new gas and oil fields were discovered; 14 promising wells were prepared for preliminary drilling; and deep drilling is under way at 11 oil and gas-bearing areas.

For example, each metre dug in preliminary and industrial drilling produces an average of 10,000 cu. m. of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon – a rate of effectiveness for which the world’s industrial powers strive. Moreover, this increase in hydrocarbon reserves comes in regions that have been used for several decades.

Considering data provided by scientists that the Ustyurt plateau, the Buxoro, Xiva and Predgissar [the Hisor mountain area bordering Tajikistan] regions are very promising in terms of hydrocarbon reserves, oil and gas geology will continue discovering new fields for the well-being of the whole nation.

Originally published by Narodnoye Slovo, Tashkent, in Russian 17 Oct 07, pp1,2.

(c) 2007 BBC Monitoring Central Asia. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.