WESTERN COMPANIES TO PROSPECT AND DEVELOP DEEP LAYERS AT GARASH-SYZLYK.

The U.S. company Mobil Oil, Monument Oil of Britain and the state company Turkmenneft (in the process of being reformed as the Turkmen National Oil Company) have signed a production-sharing agreement for the onshore Garash-Syzlyk oilfield in western Turkmenistan. Mobil holds a 52.4 percent interest, Monument 27.6 percent and Turkmenneft 20 percent. Signed on July 10, the agreement was basically worked out in April during President Saparmurat Niazov’s visit to the United States. The agreement covers Garash-Syzlyk’s deep reserves. A follow-up agreement is expected soon to cover the field’s shallow reserves, which had been extracted only partially during the Soviet era. Garash-Syzlyk is by far the largest oilfield in operation in Turkmenistan. Preliminary estimates of the field’s recoverable deep reserves range from 100 to 300 million tons. (Western agencies, July 10; Caspian Business Report, June 1, 1998). –VS

PURCHASER OF KAZAKHSTAN’S LEADING NEWSPAPER REMAINS A MYSTERY.