Dragon Oil Plans to Sell Gas Beyond Turkmenistan

Dragon Oil is looking to sell natural gas to potential buyers outside Turkmenistan as contract negotiations with the government have stalled.

Company’s CEO Hussain Al Ansari told Bloomberg earlier this week that, “There are a few potential customers around that are willing to get our gas.” He added that discussions are on with a few other people within Turkmenistan and the region.

Turkmenistan gas demand is has been mute and the country has held off striking an accord with Dragon. This has forced the company to burn off the gas or feed it into a state-owned pipeline for free, Bloomberg said.

It has been in talks with Turkmenistan since 2010 on a sales contract, the news agency added.

Al Ansari told Bloomberg that Dragon plans to increase production by about 36 percent to 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2015.

It already has a production-sharing agreement that allows it to look beyond the government for gas sales, including for export, Bloomberg quoted Al Ansari as saying.