OREANDA-NEWS. April 01, 2013. The plan of ITERA Oil and Gas Company is to drill the first exploratory well in the 21st block in the Caspian Sea shelf of Turkmenistan in 2013, - Vladimir Makeev, General Director of ITERA Oil and Gas Company, told PRIME Information Agency.

"We are in the process of determining a point for the well to be drilled. Our plan is to begin drilling this year", - he said. Makeev said the Company was negotiating a possibility to use a platform without specifying an opposite negotiating party.

According to Makeev, the sea depth within the block limits was 7 to 15 meters, while an expected depth of the first well was 6 to 6.5 thousand meters. He added that according to preliminary estimate by ITERA, the resources of the 21st block were 700 billion cubic meters of gas. At that, previous estimates of the block’s reserves were 219 million tons of oil and 92 billion cubic meters of associated gas, while the resources of non-associated gas were assessed at 100 billion cubic meters.

Makeev also confirmed that Zarubezhneft, a state company, abandoned the Project without commencing its official involvement in it. Zarubezhneft spent over two years in an attempt to agree with the Agency and the Government of Turkmenistan documents for Zarubezhneft to acquire 51% with the 21st Block Development Project. Sergey Kudryashov, General Director of the Company, stated in February the Project was in a process of preservation. Zarubezhneft expected to become operator of the Project.

ITERA Oil and Gas Company is a large independent producer and seller of natural gas in the Russian Federation. The Company produces natural gas in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. Rosneft owns a 51 percent stock with ITERA Oil and Gas Company, while 49 percent of its shares belong to ITERA International Group of Companies (IIGC).