Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: OGDCL and Gazprom International entered into a memorandum of understanding for mutual cooperation, joint ventures and use of state of the art technology in oil and gas exploration & development.

The agreement was signed in Saint Petersburg on July 3, 2017. Both the companies were represented by their Chief Executive Officers. Earlier Russian delegations had visited Pakistan to negotiate and finalize possible cooperation framework. Deputy Chairman Gazprom and Chief Executive Officer of Gazprom International during their visits to Islamabad had underscored their preference and commitment in Pakistan’s energy sector. Under the cooperation framework, Gazprom International will explore investment opportunities in Pakistan’s E&P sector in coordination with OGDCL. Gazprom International will offer joint venture options to OGDCL in various international blocks. Gazprom International has agreed to introduce latest and state of the art technology for production enhancement in OGDCL operated fields in Pakistan. OGDCL and Gazprom will cooperate in the commercialization of stranded or marginal fields which is likely to significantly add to OGDCL’s production and revenues. Parties have also decided to cooperate in oil and gas infrastructure development and import of hydrocarbons to Pakistan from joint fields.

In order to ensure effective implementation of the MoU, parties have agreed to form a Joint Working Group which will hold its first meeting in mid August 2017. Gazprom International currently operates in nearly 20 countries on 4 continents and participates in almost 40 projects of different scales. The key projects are implemented in Algeria, Vietnam, Bolivia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh and on the North Sea shelf (British, Danish and Dutch sectors).

Published in Daily Times, July 7^th , 2017.