>>Tajikistan plans new oil and gas legislation
BISHKEK, March 5 (The Conway Bulletin) – Lawmakers in Tajikistan’s lower house discussed the draft of a new law that investors hope will help them to do business in its emerging energy sector (March 3).
Tajikistan, dependent on fuel imports from Russia and unfriendly neighbour Uzbekistan, is desperate to unlock its own significant hydrocarbons potential. It hopes to both achieve energy security and earn much-needed revenue.
The problem is that the legislation appears unreformed and Byzantine even.
Although details of the law under discussion haven’t been released, it is understood that it is aimed at addressing these problems.
Russia’s Gazprom, Channel Islands-registered Tethys, France’s Total and China’s CNPC are all prospecting in Tajikistan, the latter trio joining forces to exploit the Bokhtar license area in the south-west of the republic which may hold over 3 trillion cubic metres of gas.
Neighbouring China will be the primary customer when — or perhaps at this stage that should still be an ‘if’ — Bokhtar starts gas production.
ENDS
>>This story first appeared in issue 174 of The Conway Bulletin, a weekly newssheet for Central Asia and the South Caucasus. For more info on the Bulletin, click here