Closing Article - OGT 2022
The OGT 2022 completed its three-day work with signing ceremonies of several contracts between the NOCs and IOCs in Turkmenistan. It was the 27th bi-annual conference, held in spring and fall, to attract foreign investors to Turkmenistan.
Highlights of the Conference show that Turkmenistan is intent not only on strengthening its current partnerships but also is ready to start new initiatives. Regular participants of annual OGT Conferences, major oil and gas companies such as CNPC of China, Dragon Oil of UAE, Schlumberger of USA, and Tatneft of Russia have once again conveyed their commitment to working with national oil and gas companies of Turkmenistan.
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Commitments of current partners were substantiated by their active participation in the Expo and Conference sessions. In this regard, notable points came from leading industry executives. For instance, the President of CNPC Hou Qijun emphasized that “under the support of the two state leaders, our bilateral partnership has gained fruitful results in upstream E&P, gas trade, engineering construction, oil field services, supply of equipment and material, green energy across the industrial chain, and cultural exchange. As of now, Turkmen-China gas trade has exceeded 340 BCM, with a total value of over 60 billion US dollars, which is a strong boost to the economic growth and people’s livelihood of our two countries.”
Also, Nasser Dilmaghani Zadeh, the General Director of Schlumberger pointed out thay his company has “been continuously introducing new technologies in Caspian region . . . [such as technology used in] sand production.” These technologies identify the structure and amount of sand produced to apply the right methods to control them. For instance, the Sand View technology that the Schlumberger uses “allows to locate sand entry points downhole and determine sand production rates. It can detect up to 1500 sand grain impacts per second and particle size is discriminated via intelligent interpretation real-time” said Mr. Zadeh.
Similarly, during his presentation, the CEO of Dragon Oil, Ali Al Jarwan presented his company’s strategic priorities for its upstream operations in Turkmenistan. The company is a major producer in the Cheleken Contract Area – under the PSA with the Turkmen government going back to 2000 – operating oil and gas platforms in the Caspian Sea. At the OGT 2022, Mr. Jarwan assured delegates of the company’s commitment to partnership with Turkmenistan by supplying innovative technologies and intelligent solutions to optimize production processes. It should also be noted that only recently the State Concern “Turkmennebit” and Dragon Oil signed an Agreement to extend their PSA till 2035. Thanks to this Agreement, the newest block of the Turkmen Shelf on the Caspian Sea, Block 19 will be thoroughly explored through 3D seismic work to obtain new geological information.
The main focus of new oil and gas initiatives at the OGT 2022 was on attracting investment projects to Blocks 21 and 23 of the Turkmen Shelf of the Caspian Sea. The State Minister of Turkmenistan, Chairman of the State Concern “Turkmennebit” Guvanch Agajanov opened teaser documents to invite foreign partners for investment opportunities. Qualified companies would be invited to participate in tenders and receive additional information on the potential investment projects of these two blocks. Mr. Agajanov’s presentation also emphasized the fact that blocks 21 and 23 are only two of the total 32 blocks of the Turkmen shelf.
One other focus of the Conference was on the potential of the Trans-Caspian Pipeline to bring Turkmen oil and gas to western markets, i.e. Caucasus, and beyond. As George Chikovani the General Director of the Oil and Gas Corporation of Georgia said “. . . the establishment of natural gas ties with Turkmenistan, have consistently remained at the core of the EU’s strategic aspirations . . . for more than 14 years [Turkmenistan] has been considered as a part of the Southern Gas Corridor.” To realize the potential of Turkmen gas reaching to European countries, it has “to reach Azerbaijan first — and this has been the major problem, which shall be solved through strengthening international co-operation and securing financing of the oil and gas sector of Turkmenistan . . .” added Mr. Chikovani. As a show of support for the possibility of the Trans-Caspian Pipeline and other investment initiatives in Turkmenistan, the President of SOCAR, Rovshan Najaf came to the OGT 2022 to give a speech at the plenary session. Mr. Najaf's presentation indicated the readiness of SOCAR and Azerbaijan to build upon the friendly relations of the two countries and take current partnerships to new levels.
The worldwide attention to the energy sector does not stem solely from the deficiency of energy resources. The negative impact of traditional energy sources such as coal, oil, and even gas on the climate, even if controversial, are generally accepted as facts among the many experts and leaders of the oil and gas sector. Likewise, the OGT 2022 was not indifferent to the subject of climate change. Specifically, discussions of reducing methane emissions and introducing efficient production systems were presented by speakers such as Olga Gasan-zade of Carbon Limits and Kamel Ben-Naceur of President of the Society of Petroleum Engineers alongside the other distinguished speakers.
Unique to the OGT 2022, there was an opportunity to meet up with senior government officials of the oil and gas industry of Turkmenistan. These meetings are in high demand among the many representatives of IOCs and are usually assigned on a first-come first-served basis. So alongside the Expo and Conference, there were numerous concurrent meetings between the officials of IOCs and NOCs. In total, more than hundred, one-to-one meetings took place between the Chairmen of the State Concerns “Turkmengas” and “Turkmennebit.”
Overall, more than 500 foreign and local delegates of international organizations, diplomatic missions, and international and national companies residing in Turkmenistan attended both the Conference and Expo. They represented more than 200 companies from 45 countries, ranging from widely known industry leaders such as Baker Hughes and lesser known players in the upstream as Celeros Flow Technology. Interested delegates who could not attend in person had a chance to tune in online via Zoom live streaming. Foreign delegates were offered round-trip charter flights in the Dubai-Ashgabat-Dubai route to make their travel to Ashgabat seamless. In addition, to ensure that all delegates get a broader perspective of Turkmenistan and have a meaningdul OGT 2022 experience the organizing committee with the support of partners organized entertaining cocktail reception, gala dinners, a sightseeing tour of the city, and a round of golf in gratis.
To learn more about the OGT 2022 and attend future events, check out their website at https://ogt-turkmenistan.com/en.