Uzbekistan's Saneg reports 350% jump in gas production
Uzbekistan's largest privately-held oil and gas company, Sanoat Energetika Guruhi (Saneg), on September 4 announced a 350% increase in gas production from fields it was given responsibility for in 2019, along with a 55% rise in oil production.
Saneg is an executor of the state's programme to increase oil production in Uzbekistan and has the subsoil use rights for 103 oil fields. The company has thus far invested $750mn in the programme, and has identified gas deposits in 78 of the fields, 33 of which are currently under development. As a result, gas production from the properties has risen from 389mn m3/year in 2021 to 1.4 billion m3/year in 2022.
The main driver of growth has been a $12.5mn programme that utilises flare gas released in the fields during the extraction and preparation of oil. The programme saves gas from being burned off, as used to be the case, and instead transfers it into the gas transmission system of Uztransgaz, the company said.
"At the Severny Shurtan, Shirkent, and Turtsari fields, petroleum gas has been burned at flare installations for 30 years. Our new programme prevents flaring and instead directs gas for separation and processing at zeolite purification plants," said Saneg CEO Tulkin Yusupov.
"A promising direction at the moment is drilling ultra-deep wells to identify the oil and gas potential at the subsurface, mostly on new productive horizons. We are also conducting 3D large-scale seismic surveys at the company's investment sites, including in the Ustyurt region. Having received the updated data, we will be able to expand our operational activities and bring the company to a new level of production capacity," he added.
Saneg currently accounts for about 5% of gas production in Uzbekistan. The company intends to increase gas production to 3bn m3 by 2026. The increase in volumes is planned mainly through the development of fields in the Bukhara-Khiva oil and gas region.